McPherson tournament: Bullpups daze Carroll with quick burst

Bishop Carroll learned first-hand why it is not advisable to fall behind early to McPherson in the Roundhouse.

McPherson is good enough as it is, but when it plays behind a wave of momentum created by a rocking crowd then it is nearly invincible.

Or at least that’s what it felt like on Friday night when McPherson used a decisive first half to defeat Carroll 57-36 and advance to the championship game of the McPherson Invitational to play Lawrence Free State.

“They made it look easy tonight,” Carroll coach Lonnie Lollar said. “They were the hammer, we were the nail.”

McPherson led 7-0 before Carroll could blink, then 14-2 before it could take a breath. Before long, halftime arrived and the Eagles found themselves buried in a 33-13 hole.

Drew Pyle, in particular, seemed emotionally charged in the beginning. The senior scored in a variety of ways – floaters in the lane, pull-up jumpers, deep three-pointers – to finish with 21 points, 16 of which were scored in the first half.

“It’s a lot of fun playing in a game like that,” Pyle said. “Just knowing where everyone is at on the floor and getting easy shots. The crowd and the student section, they make it all worth it with all the noise.”

McPherson coach Kurt Kinnamon decided against the full-court pressure his team usually applies after surviving a double-overtime game the night before. But his team still applied enough pressure in the halfcourt to disrupt Carroll into 19 turnovers and 37-percent shooting.

“We told our kids they could be tired on Sunday,” Kinnamon said.

The City League prepared Carroll to play at a faster pace, but nothing prepared it to face the kind of shooting it saw on Friday. McPherson was over 50 percent for the game until it pulled its starters late (it finished shooting 47.7 percent) and finished with 12 assists on 21 made baskets.

“You can’t live in this town if you can’t shoot,” Lollar said, “that’s what I’m finding out.”

Carroll found stretches of success in the second half, but never could piece together a large enough run to put a dent into McPherson’s 20-point halftime lead.

After a start like that, there was not much Carroll could do.

“When you get the crowd behind you,” Kinnamon said, “there’s no other place like this.”

Derby 57, North 53 – Behind 23 points from point guard Nyjee Wright, and 13 points and 12 rebounds from Trevor Hall, Derby (6-5) registered an important victory in the mind of its coach, Brett Flory, after a particularly demoralizing loss to Junction City the day before.

“Something about the way it went down (against Junction City), we just couldn’t swallow,” Flory said. “We had some us things that we needed to figure out, so to be able to get that done today is a step in the right direction and shows that these guys still want to try to be good.”

Down 10 in the fourth quarter, North rallied to trim the deficit to 55-52 with the ball and eight seconds left. But Derby fouled to prevent a potential game-tying three-pointer and North never had another chance at a tie.

Tiylar Cotton led the Redskins (4-7) with 20 points and four steals.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 11:19 PM with the headline "McPherson tournament: Bullpups daze Carroll with quick burst."