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Members of the Kennett Indians basketball team celebrate from the bench as the final seconds tick off in the Indians' 67-47 win over Bernie in the championship game of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Wednesday night.
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And for good reason. For the first time in 27 years, the Indians are the champions of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
The Tribe used a smothering defense and superior depth to take a 67-47 win over defending champ Bernie, holding the Mules to just 33 percent shooting from the field and never trailing in Wednesday's title game.
"Any win's good for us, but Kennett's not done this for a long, long time -- I think somebody told me 27 years," Kennett coach Jim Vaughan said. "None of these kids were even born yet. Bernie's an undefeated team coming into this. They're ranked high in the SEMO poll. ... They're a final four caliber team. It's a very, very big win for our program."
Kennett's Cameron Wallace (4) puts up a shot in traffic during Wednesday's game against Bernie in the championship game of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
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"It is real sweet," said Vaughan. "It's special. It's respect for our team and program. It's kind of a paycheck for how hard these kids work. ... Sweet, special -- any adjective you want to throw in there -- it's awesome for us. We're going to enjoy it."
Once again, the Tribe (8-3) did it with depth and defense Wednesday, going 8-10 players deep and wearing down Bernie, which got just two points from its reserves -- both of those in the game's final seconds.
"That's what we want to do night in and night out," Vaughan said. "We want to be the team in the fourth quarter that has more legs than the other team."
Vaughan believes that depth contributed to the Mules' shooting woes Wednesday -- Bernie made just 17 of its 52 shots and was 1-for-15 from 3-point range.
"One thing that sticks out in my mind in this game is Bernie is a good, good perimeter shooting basketball team, but they hit just one shot from behind the arc (against us)," said Vaughan. "I truly think that that is attributed to guarding them from the time they get to the basketball in and then making them work all the way down the floor and in the halfcourt. ... They don't have legs to make as many shots that way."
Kennett senior Jimmy Gooden echoed his coach's sentiments.
"We just had to play hard, keep (our) man up close," said Gooden. "We knew they had shooters, so we had to close out on them a little bit and play our game."
Kennett also forced 17 Mules' turnovers Wednesday with its pressure defense.
"Especially in the first half we turned it over too much," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "This morning it was something worked on and talked about but we're still not seeing the open man too well and we're still not making good decisions with the basketball."
The Indians dominated almost wire-to-wire Wednesday, taking the lead for good on Jack Walls' basket less than 3 1//2 minutes into the game and pushing the lead to 16-8 on Fred Garmon's bucket with 30 seconds left in the opening period.
Dwight Usry's 3 with 6:57 remaining before halftime pushed the lead to 23-13, and the lead stayed between 10 and 14 points the rest of the half.
"We weren't getting many open looks and when we did, we didn't make them," said Botsch. "I thought they really rebounded the ball well tonight and I thought that was something they did a whole lot better than they did earlier in the tournament."
Kennett outrebounded the Mules, 35-31, on the evening.
Bernie did not go away, rallying behind center Jake Smith to make it 50-40 with 6:23 remaining in the contest on his basket.
However, an 11-3 run by Kennett pushed the lead to 18 (61-43) on Usry's free throw with 2:30 showing on the game clock.
"They were real tired down there," Kennett junior Fred Garmon said. "We've got a good 9-10 man rotation. All of our guys can play (the entire game)."
Vaughan also credited a boisterous contingent of fans from Kennett for sparking his team.
"What an awesome crowd we had here tonight," said Vaughan. "Our team appreciates that. We recognize that. There's no doubt that that had an impact in our adrenaline and keeping us going to that."
Garmon led the Tribe in scoring with 14 points, while Usry added 12 and the trio of Randrick Caruthers, Gooden and Jack Walls all finished with 10 apiece.
Smith led the Mules with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Quinton Stevens added 13.
After the game, Caruthers and Garmon were both named to the all-tournament team.
"He just gets it done," Vaughan said of Garmon. "I said it Tuesday night -- he's the general on the floor. There's not doubt. The kids just -- they feed off of him. ... I know he makes me a lot smarter having him out on the floor."
With the second half of the season starting next week -- Kennett travels to Malden on Tuesday -- could Wednesday's game be viewed as a statement win for the Tribe?
"I think we're pretty good," Garmon said. "Nobody really gave us much credit (so) we've got to earn it."
Comments
I am so glad Kennett beat Bernie last night! All I here in the bootheel is how good Bernie is and nobody else around has a chance. I watched a little of both tournaments and Bernie would have finished around 5th or 6th at the Southeast Missourian tournament. Kennett is a good team and showed last night, and would be a good game with Scott County Central
Great game to watch! I am not from Kennett or Bernie but enjoyed watching Garmon & his awesome passing! He is a great player. I am surprised that Welch (Bernie) did not make the All Tourn team. He is a really good, quick guard! Both teams were fun to watch.
Kennett is a solid team, but to say they could stick with SCC is rather optimistic.
Tlks2much
How did your school perform at the tournament? I am amazed at how people present arguments that Class 1 and Class 2 schools should be able to compete with Class 3 and Class 4 schools. All Ihear is Bernie hasn't beat anybody. But in reality they have performed well against schools their own size and they beat a Class 3 school (Twin Rivers) and a Class 4 school (Dexter) in the tournament. There aren't many Class 2 schools that could have pulled this off.
Thank You drawmules!....Kennett played a good ball game and won, yes. However Kennett has always made me gag with getting excited over wins like this. They are a school graduating over 100 kids every year and they get their jollies off of beating the likes of Senath, Malden, Hayti, South Pemiscot....I mean them still competing in the Bootheel conference is a JOKE. Step up to the Semo conference and play some teams your own size. Oh yea, they got their fill of that and dropped out...........as for the SCC comment, that might be the bonehead post of the century. Congratulations, biggest school in the tournament finally wins after going on 3 decades!!!!
I enjoyed watching Kennett. They went out and played a tough schedule early and they deserve a great deal of respect. They are listed in my Top 25 rankings I started today on semoball.com. I actually have them ranked fourth. I will be in Kennett next Friday to watch Kennett play Poplar Bluff.
It irritates me when small schools are criticized for having good records because they beat other small schools, however. Small schools should play small schools during the regular season. Schools like Oak Ridge, Bernie, Richland and North Pemiscot should be proud of their accomplishments even if they are unable to beat Kennett, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.
You are right. However I wouldn't even go as far as to say they can't beat them. I mean look at Dexter, they dwarf Bernie and Bernie won. Kennett played better, and won Wednesday. But honestly, how many times in the past decade, regardless of opponent has Bernie made only 1 three pointer?? I mean look at those shooting numbers, yes some of that can be credited to good defense but I'm sorry, numbers that pathetic, from a team as good as Bernie are a fluke and won't happen again. It just obviously was NOT Bernie's night. I think there is little doubt we'll see them in the class 2 Final Four though.
Rocky09
I hope your are right. But I think Portageville is ready by the end of the year. I also have to drive to Oak Ridge in the upcoming weeks and get a look at what they have to offer. It is too early. After watching Bernie play their last three games I think we are all a little concerned. But maybe there is some strategy to it. You don't want to peak too early. Strategy or not Kennett is a better team.
No ill intent against anyone here:
I would think that Kennett has a legitimate shot in district play. They played very competitive in their 3 losses against Arkansas teams probably as good or better than anyone in their district. Jonesboro (6A) presently 6-4, Greene County Tech (5A) 6-6 and Earle which was ranked 4th in(4A). I would think that NMCC and Charleston would be their main hurdles. They may not make it to the final four, but after wathcing the games at Bloomfield, they are off to a good start. One thing for sure, after what Randrick Caruthers went through this past year, his efforts didn't make me gag, but instead I'm applauding. My son has (HCM) and it's not a easy disease to cope with.
Drawmules,
First of all when Bernie plays and beats teams that SCC does then I will give them credit. But beating Dexter doesn't quite cut it! Let me remind you Dexter lost to Sikeston by 50 points in Dexter,with it being Sikeston's first game and out of shape.Then they didn't win a game in SEMO conference tournament and they got 3rd place in the Bloomfield tourney and Bernie beat them by 4 points?
Easy now, Bernie doesn't have the strong recruiting base that SCC does. ;)