Kennett advances to championship game of Bootheel Conference Tournament

Staff Photo by Aaron Lynn Kennett's Adam Grantham pulls up for a jumper against Hayti's Doriyon West in Thursday night's game. [Click to enlarge]

SENATH, Mo- The top seeded Kennett Indians used their defense to outlast the Hayti Indians in their semifinal game of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Thursday night. In a game that was close for most of the first half, Kennett finally broke it open by running the court on turnovers to knock off Hayti 72-58.

Kennett took an early edge by getting points off of turnovers created by their suffocating pressure defense. Kennett's Cameron Wallace got a steal that Dwight Usry converted to two-points. Randrick Caruthers created a turnover that led to Fred Garmon getting a basket off an offensive rebound to put Kennett ahead 6-4.

After a timeout at 5:34, Hayti tied the game when Doriyon West took an in-bounds pass in the paint for two-points.

Over the next few minutes, Kennett continued to convert points off of turnovers but, Hayti controlled the rebounding game. After Garmon found Jack Walls in the paint for a put-in to give Kennett a three-point lead, Hayti's Keenan Williams nailed a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc to tie the game 11-11 with 1:18 left in the quarter.

With 50 seconds left in the first quarter Andy Lack hit a long range 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Kennett a one-point advantage that they would take into the second quarter.

To start the second quarter, West blocked a shot in the paint that allowed Hayti get the ball back down to their end of the court where Darius Presberry sank a 3 from the left side. Presberry's 3 gave Hayti a two-point lead and he stretched it to four on a basket in the paint on the next possession.

Kennett would take the lead back though when Lack stole the ball and found Garmon down court for a lay up that he converted to three-points on an "And 1". Caruthers tacked on two more when Hayti in-bounded the ball and he created a turnover off the press.

Williams tied the game back up for Hayti on the next possession when he converted an "And 1". Then, Presberry gave Hayti a three-point advantage when he hit another 3-pointer, this time from the corner, at the five minute mark.

Kennett would start to go on a run with three minutes left in the half when Walls knocked down a field goal and Garmon followed up with a 3 from the top of the key off of a pass from Wallace. On the next possession Garmon got a steal off of the press and found Caruthers on a break away for a bucket to give Kennett a nine point lead with a minute left at 37-28.

"Late in the half we finally made a nice run and got into a double digit lead," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "We got a little better organized defensively. We needed that because we had a hard time putting one together for awhile."

The half ended with Caruthers getting another steal that he kicked out to Usry who found Wallace down the court for a lay-up.

After the game was tied with four minutes left, Kennett ended up taking a 42-28 lead into the half.

"We started off slow. It was a little rough since we haven't played in a week and a half. Hayti came out playing good and knocking down shots. They were staying in the game with us so, we knew that we had to pick it up." said Lack.

In the opening minute of the second half, Presberry hit another 3 to cut into the lead but, Kennett came out doing better on the boards to keep their pace up.

"We've got to be a team that constantly fights for position on rebounds instead of going in and trying to out jump people because most of the time we're going to be out-sized. I thought we did a better job of trying to win position on rebounds, which is something we didn't do early in the game." said Vaughan.

Midway through the third Hayti's Craig Rodgers found west in the paint for a dunk that sent a charge through Hayti's team and fans but, it might have been too late as Kennett continued to build on their lead and put the game out of reach when Jay Shavers and Lack knocked down three 3's with two minutes left in the quarter.

"Andy got hot there and you've got to credit our guys because they understood that and moved the basketball around and got it back to him for free looks," said Vaughan. "It was a nice threat to have and it helped stretch the game out a little bit. It gave us some momentum and energy, something to feed off of. It immediately got us into our defensive possession with more eagerness to get the basketball back."

A big part of Kennett's run that opened their big lead was the defensive play of Walls. After every made basket for Kennett, Walls would be at the top of the press wearing out Hayti's ball handlers. Many times, when Hayti did beat the press, Walls would be the player to come up with the rebound on the other end.

"It doesn't matter where you put him (Walls) on the floor defensively, he's going to be solid at the position. He's hungry for the basketball and he's a little bit of everywhere. He's got a nose for the basketball and where it's going to go. Defensively, he knows where the next pass is going to be and what the next play is going to be."

Kennett had five players reach double digits in scoring with Garmon leading the way with 13 points. Lack and Wallace both had 11 while Caruthers and Jimmy Gooden both finished with 10.

Hayti had two players get into double figures. Williams led with 20 points and Presberry finished with 11.

With the win, Kennett advances to the Bootheel Conference Tournament championship game where they will face the Caruthersville Tigers on Friday at the Senath-Hornersville gym.