Runs push Tribe past Caruthersville

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- Having to fight through a few struggles against a tough field at the Hurricane Classic last week is already paying dividends for the Kennett Indians.

That preparation showed Tuesday night, when the Tribe took an early lead against the Caruthersville Tigers and then held off a fourth-quarter run to take a 67-47 win in the Bootheel Conference opener for both teams.

"We played some pretty tough teams and competition (at the Hurricane Classic in Jonesboro)," Kennett junior Jack Walls said. "That got us prepared for this."

Kennett (2-2, 1-0 Bootheel) led from the middle of the first quarter on, but the Tigers (2-2, 0-1) cut the lead to eight points (50-42) on Vohland Fonda's basket with 5:26 left in the game.

However, the Tribe weathered the storm, running off seven straight points to push the lead back to 15 and never looked back.

"We learned last week," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "We gave up leads (at Jonesboro) -- we gave up a 15-point lead (to Earle) and we gave up a decent lead to Greene County and then spread it back out. We've learned to take on a run. That's what basketball is, it's a game of runs. We've learned to take on those runs, get them stopped and then make the next run that happens be one of our runs."

Kennett used one of those runs to take control of Tuesday's game. After a Seth Littrell basket cut the lead to 18-16, the Indians went on a 9-0 run behind five points from Fred Garmon to take a double-digit lead and seize the momentum.

"That's what we talked about ahead of time as we opened the conference season," Vaughan said. "It's a district game as well, so there were seeding implications there. ... real big boost for us tonight. We came out and I thought we took care of business pretty good tonight."

Kennett led 31-20 at the break, and pushed the lead to 45-30 on Walls' basket with 2:45 left in the third period before the Tigers started to chip away briefly at the lead.

The Tribe also had a big run in the opening period. Trailing 7-4 three minutes into the game, Kennett ended the quarter on a 14-4 run that was fueled by eight points from Randrick Caruthers, who led all scorers with 19 points on the evening.

"He's a good player. He's a good leader," said Walls. "We need leadership on the team. Him and Fred Garmon are good leaders. ... We've just got to listen to one another and not be selfish."

Said Vaughan of Caruthers: "He's just one of those kids. He's tough to guard. When he squares you up and he's got the ball in his hands, you're going to have to run somebody else at him. It's hard for any one person to stay in front of him."

Garmon and Walls each scored 12 points to join Caruthers in double figures.

"We've got different that lead us each night," said Vaughan. "It's a pretty good problem to have."

Fonda paced Caruthersville with 12 points.

Kennett is back in action Friday when it heads to Paragould, Ark. for a rematch with Greene County Tech.

Jr. High
Seventh-grade Tribe heads to Bootheel finals
At Kennett Middle School, the seventh-grade Indians closed the game on a 10-0 run to pull out a 33-24 win over South Pemiscot in the semifinals of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Tuesday evening.

Kennett coach Kevin McCaig was pleased with his team's hustle and effort.

"It doesn't matter how you start -- it's how you finish," McCaig said. "That's been our motto all year. We continue to attack the rim, attack their press and got good easy baskets out of it."

BJ Carr had a big game, scoring a game-high 19 points, including 10 of Kennett's 12 points in the final period.