Monett sophomore Logan Coones scored a team-high 16 points in Monett's crashing party at Big 8 rival Aurora's homecoming Friday night, but none were as special as the last three, coming with 1.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of a 53-53 tie. Those three served as the buzzer-beating winners for Monett, who improved to 8-5 on the season.
"It wasn't the way we drew it up," said Monett head basketball coach Jeremy Land. "They switched it up on us. We thought we could get a Cameron Witt on a pick, but Aurora did a great job defending that so Logan (Coones) put up an awfully pretty shot."
Coones confirmed what his coach saw.
"The play was suppose to go to Cam (Witt)," he said, "but he couldn't get around the pick and I saw the clock running out. I've never come close to hitting a shot like that."
Aurora opened the contest a bit sloppy, turning the ball over four times in the game's first five minutes and Monett turned that into six points. Monett led at Aurora after one quarter of play 17-13.
The Cubs returned the favor in the second quarter, turning it over on its first three possessions, resulting in six Houn' Dawg points to give Aurora a 19-17 lead. The game then became a game of runs, as Aurora went on a 17-point run than started in the first quarter but extended into the second quarter that gave Aurora a commanding lead of 30-22 at the half.
Monett opened the third quarter on a run of its own, scoring the quarter's first 11 points.
"I told them at half that basketball is a game of runs," said Land. "The run we came out with to open the second half was huge for us."
By the end of the third quarter the game was tied at 41-41.
The physical play of a Big 8 conference game was evident in the fourth quarter, as both teams battled to find an advantage. Aurora found that advantage when senior Corey Gregory hit a long trey for the left wing, followed by an acrobatic layup to give the Houn' Dawgs a brief 51-50 edge.
Monett followed with their own advantage-maker, as Coones hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Cubs back on top 53-50.
Gregory tied the game for the tenth time on the night with another three-pointer, giving Monett the ball with just over a minute left. The Cubs held the ball until the final 20 seconds and set up the last play of the game. That is where Coones' heroics came in, as he dribbled the ball towards his bench, turned and fired a trey from the left-wing for the win, 56-53.
Coones' 16 led the Cubs, followed by Collin Randles 10.
Aurora was led by Garrett Bader's game-high 17 points. Gregory added 11 for the Houn's, who fell to 8-4 on the season.
Monett -- 17 5 19 15 -- 56
Aurora -- 13 17 11 12 -- 53
Monett -- Logan Coones 16, Collin Randles 10, Jonah Paszek 8, Elijah George 7, Cameron Witt 6, Chad Swanson 6, Isaac Long 3
Aurora -- Garrett Bader 17, Corey Gregory 11, Mason Husmann 10, Logan Bader 5, Josh Fronabarger 5, Skylar Cahill 3, Billy Meredith 2
