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Caruthersville Tigers start the New Year with 41-point victory over Malden
MALDEN, Mo. - In the turning of a New Year, the Malden Green Wave boys basketball team also looks to turn their winless season around.
This shift was spoiled in the first game back with an 85-44 loss to the Caruthersville Tigers.
As much Malden fought to end their eight-game losing streak, the Tigers were also motivated by their will to shift their losing record.
For the Tigers, this was their second 41-point victory in a row after beating Manila (Ar.) 68-27 on Dec. 28.
According to Caruthersville head coach Lamont Bell, this first game of the New Year was the most complete game his team has played so far.
“We’ve had our chances to win in every game this season, but always found a way to lose,” Bell said. “We wanted to put a complete game together here because the season starts now.”
As the next portion of Caruthersville's schedule is focused on Bootheel Conference opponents, Bell is hoping his team can make a strong run throughout these January games.
Getting the Tigers off to their strong start in Conference play was junior Sammy Bryant.
He opened up the game against Malden knocking down three, back-to-back, unanswered three-pointers. He help lead the Tigers to a 18-7 advantage over Malden in the first quarter.
“We haven’t been shooting well, so it was good to see the ball go in the hole tonight,” Bell said. “Sammy Bryant had a good game. He hasn’t been shooting the best lately but if we can get him going like that, we can be a tough team to beat.”
Bryant was ‘lights out’ from beyond the arc, leading his team with 14 points in the first half. Meanwhile, Malden was able to come back in the second quarter as they only trailed by eight points. They were down 29-21.
They relied heavily on freshman Landon DeProw who scored all of Malden’s points in the first quarter and finished the half with nine total points.
Then, coming out of halftime, the Tigers snuffed Malden’s comeback. Within two minutes of the second half, Caruthersville’s eight-point lead turned into a 20-point lead. By the end of the third quarter, they scored 31 points to jump to a 60-33 advantage, putting this game out of reach for the Green Wave.
According to Bell, this was the best second-half performance he has seen by his team so far.
“This was huge,” Bell said. “We’ve dropped a lot of close ones in December. We just needed to get some momentum going.”
Along with their scoring frenzy, this 31-12 run for the Tigers started on defense as they forced 14 turnovers.
Bryant once again led the charge in the second half with 16 points. He would finish the game with a 30-point performance. Meanwhile, senior Jermonte (Monte) Alexander would lead the team in free-throw opportunities. He was seven for eight from the line and finished with 21 points.
For Malden, DeProw led the Green Wave with 13 total points while junior Dyentez Dobbins was right behind with 12 points.
Caruthersville will take another week off before they travel to South Pemiscot on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Bell hopes to continue progressing from their now 6-7 record.
“We got a tough Bootheel Conference schedule coming up,” Bell said. “We just gotta make ourselves prepared to keep competing like this. We just gotta keep getting better on our end. Keep defending, keep executing on offense and keep people from scoring 70-80 points on us. If we can keep them around 40 points per game, we can give ourselves a chance.”
Malden will still be searching for their first win as they also travel to play South Pemiscot next on Friday, Jan. 10.