Tribe wins Bootheel Conference Tournament

SENATH, Mo,-The state ranked Kennett Indians played in one of their toughest games of the season Friday night as the Caruthersville Tigers looked to pull of a huge upset. The Indians rallied late in the Bootheel Conference Tournament championship game to beat the Tigers 81-77. The game was an absolute battle the whole way through and at the half it looked as if the Tigers might run away with it.

Caruthersville took an early lead to start the game by beating Kennett's full-court press and finding open men down low. Belton McWilliams got two-points in the paint 30 seconds in. Then Vohland Fonda found Elbie Fonda in the paint for a basket and he tacked on two more from the free-throw line to put the Tigers on top 6-0 two-minutes into the game.

The Indians found themselves in some hot water early on when Fred Garmon, one of their biggest offensive weapons, got into foul trouble and had to come out.

"He (Garmon) had two early fouls right away," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "With 6:30 left on the clock in the first quarter he already had two fouls. We got him back in there in the second quarter and he picks up the third one right away. So, in the first half we virtually played without our point guard who averages almost seven assist a game. That makes a big difference with what you can do offensively."

Kennett got on the board when Andy Lack hit both of his free-throws at the 4:39 mark (6-2). On the Tigers following possession Kennett's Jack Walls drew a charge that led to the Indians getting the ball back and Randrick Caruthers finding Lack at the top of the key for a 3-pointer to pull Kennett to within one at 4:17 (6-5). Vohland Fonda got some dribble penetration on the next to plays though, to push Caruthersville to a five-point lead.

In the remaining minutes of the first quarter both teams did a good job beating the other's press and the Tigers stretched their lead to seven-points by getting the ball down-low. The Tribe finished out strong in the final minute when Caruthers found Jay Shavers for 3' from the corner then found Dwight Usry on a fast-break to tie the game at the end of the period (14-14).

Caruthersville came out in the second quarter and really took control of the game. David Shaw nailed a 3' from the corner 15 seconds in, then McWilliams and Claude Taylor both had put-backs on offensive rebounds after 1:36 was played. Dwight Usry gave the Indians three-points but, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run capped off by a Vohland Fonda 3' that pushed their lead to nine-points (26-17).

"I thought our energy was real good and I thought our ball movement was real good," said Caruthersville coach David Heeb. "Kennett plays as hard as any team in southeast Missouri and if you're going to beat them you have to have player movement and ball movement. In the first half, I thought we did a real good job of that."

Shavers and Cameron Wallace both hit 3's to pull Kennett back to within six-points but, Caruthersville kept getting dribble penetration and put-backs on offensive rebounds to give them an eleven point lead to close out the half (42-31).

Caruthersville outscored Kennett 28-17 in the second quarter with Vohland Fonda and David Shaw combining for three 3's in the quarter and the Tigers big men Taylor and Seth Littrell combining for ten-points in the half.

"Before the game we talked about how they were going to be more geared up for this one than they have any other game to this point," said Vaughan. "Not that we're anything special but, we are having success this year and getting state recognition so it was kind of a benchmark for them tonight. We knew they were going to come in being though and physical. The addition of Claude Taylor, Adrin Hunt and Elbie Fonda makes them a whole new animal along with what the other kids can already do. They were simply tougher and had more effort than we did in the first half."

The Tribe came out in the second half playing more focused.

After Caruthersville's Shaw found Vohland Fonda in the opening minute for a reverse lay-up that pushed the lead to 13-points (44-31), Caruthers sank a pull-up jumper from 15 feet then stole the ball on the next play that led to Wallace hitting a 3' from the right side. On the Indians' next possession, they did a real good job of moving the ball around the court for Usry to find Gooden wide open underneath the basket to cut the lead to six-points (44-38) and force Caruthersville to call a time-out.

After the time-out, Shaw got two-points in the paint for the Tigers but, Lack answered back with a 3' from the corner to cut the lead to five at 2:18 into the third quarter (46-41). McWilliams came back with a basket on dribble penetration to push the Tigers lead back to seven. At the 4:51 mark, Kennett started to get some defensive pressure that caused Caruthersville to throw the ball away on the in-bound pass and on the following play Caruthers found Walls underneath to pull back to within five. After that, Caruthers sunk another 15 footer to cut the lead to three-points with four minutes to go in the third (48-45).

"He (Caruthers) hasn't done that very much recently but, thats a part of his game I wish he used a little bit more of," said Vaughan. "He really works on it and he's very crafty with it. He can shake free a little bit and stoppin' and poppin' is something he's gotten pretty accurate at. Seeing those shots go down certainly sparked us a little bit defensively and made us play a little harder."

After Taylor converted an "And 1" for the Tigers, Gooden had a put-back on his second offensive rebound of the half to keep the Indians within four-points at the 3:03 mark of the third quarter (51-47).

"It was just like in the Sikeston game, those guys down there were bigger and real physical," said Gooden. "When coach Vaughan called the timeout, I just listened to him and he told me not to let Taylor get another rebound. I just kept fighting hard and tried to get every rebound that came off the rim."

Over the next minute the two teams went back-and-forth until Jay Shavers stole the ball on the in-bounds pass and put it in the rim to bring Kennett to within two-points with 1:44 left in the third (54-52). Caruthersville opened their lead back up to seven-points on a Taylor put-back and a Vohland Fonda "And 1", but Caruthers hit a 3' from the corner with 20 seconds left in the third to bring Kennett back to within four-points. The Tigers closed out the third period with Vohland Fonda hitting a basket with two seconds left to push the lead back to six (61-55).

"The biggest thing we talked about at half-time were the things we didn't do well in the first half," said Vaughan. "We didn't lock-up on rebounding, we didn't hit and hold then go get and we let people slide by us to run to the rim and get tips. McWilliams, Taylor and Littrell just owned the rebounding in the first half with their offensive rebounding. We did a very poor job of staying in front of the basketball, keeping our chest ahead of the basketball and we did a whole lot of slapping, reaching and trying to steal which is bad positioning. To me thats not effort. You disrupt someone a little bit more defensively when you make them continue to change direction with the basketball. We were a lot better at that in the second half and I thought that made a difference in the third quarter."

In the fourth quarter Kennett really asserted themselves on both sides of the ball to take control of the game. Gooden, 15 seconds into the period, knocked down a 3' from the left side to cut the lead to three-points (61-58).

"The biggest difference I thought, was that they shot the 3' so well as a group," said Heeb. "It seemed like somebody different would hit one at a big time for them. You have to give them a lot of credit. I didn't think we located shooters but, on the other hand, they have to make them. They did a great job of that, especially in the second half."

After Gooden's 3', Taylor answered back for Caruthersville by getting two-points in the paint and Clayton Gibbons came back for Kennett with two in the paint (63-60).

On the next possession, Wallace knocked down two free-throws to cut the lead to one-point at the 6:57 mark of the fourth quarter (63-62). As Caruthersville brought the ball down the court, Walls came up with a steal at half-court and got the ball to Garmon who was fouled on the way to the basket. Walls, who is one of Kennett's best defenders has made big plays like that all year for the Indians. Garmon went to the line with a chance to give the Indians their first lead of the game. The Kennett side of the gym erupted when Garmon sunk his first shot to tie the game at 63-63. Garmon's second shot didn't fall and Caruthersville got the rebound and the lead back when Elbie Fonda hit one of two free-throws on the other end of the court at the 6:38 mark (64-63).

The Tigers would stretch the lead back to three-points and Kennett would bring it back to one in the following minute. At 5:46 Shavers hit one of two free throws to tie the game back up. On the next possession, Gooden came down with his eighth rebound of the game and got the ball to Garmon who found Usry streaking down the court for a lay-in to give the Indians their first lead of the night with five minutes left in the game (68-66).

"Just like in the Sikeston game, Gooden was the smallest post player on the floor," said Vaughan. "Thats what Jimmy Gooden has made a career of. Being a blue collar, beautiful kid that does every thing he can do to help whatever cause he can. I don't care if it's being a good leader at school, helping an athletic team, or helping a family. Thats the kind of kid that Jimmy Gooden is. He was a big lift for us. Our senior, our senior leader willed us to a point where we knew we were going to win the game."

The Indians had erased a 13-point deficit.

After a time-out, Kennett really turned-up their press and forced Caruthersville to throw the ball away coming down the court. On the next play, Adrin Hunt of Caruthersville got a steal but the tigers were unable to convert it to points on the board. With four minutes left, Gooden hit one of two from the line to give the Tribe a three-point lead (69-66). Shaw would also hit one of two from the line for the Tigers but, Garmon hit a couple of free-throws on the next possession to push the Kennett lead to four-points (71-67). The Indians tacked on four more points with some Gooden free-throws and an Usry fast break to open up an eight-point lead with 3:15 left (75-67).

After giving up their big lead to the top-seeded Indians and only three minutes left to play in the game, the Tigers did anything but throw in the towel.

Shaw went to the line and sunk a pair of free-throws, Vohland Fonda drove into the lane and dished it to Taylor for a bucket, then Shaw found Taylor once again underneath for a put-in to pull Caruthersville within two-points with 1:47 left to play (75-73).

After a time-out, Wallace got the ball to Usry in the paint to push the lead back to four. Then, Wallace hit a couple of free-throws to make it a six-point lead with 46 seconds to go (79-73). With time running out, Caruthersville had to start forcing Kennett to the free-throw line to have a chance. Instead of closing the game out from the line, the Indians struggled knocking down shots. The Tigers had a last gasp when Taylor converted an "And 1" to pull to within four-points with 34 seconds left. Then, when Kennett failed to knock down another pair of free-throws, Taylor got two more points in the paint to cut the lead to two-points with seven seconds left (80-77). With five seconds left in the game, Shavers went to the line for the Indians and knocked one of his two free-throws to seal the game for Kennett and give them the conference tournament championship (81-77).

This win is awesome for us," said Vaughan. "Our principal gave an announcement today and talked a little bit about history for Kennett. This is the first year that Kennett has won the conference in the regular season and the tournament in the same year. It's been some first for us over the last few years. It was the first year that we won the tournament two years ago, first year we won the season outright this year and the first year to win both. We keep establishing ourself a little bit but, we certainly still have a ways to go if we want to get to that upper tier in the state."

After Gooden took his turn in cutting down a piece of the net, he said "It feels good to win this tournament and it's my second time to be a part of it."

After Vaughn took a big sigh of relief in a hallway behind the Senath-Hornersville gym, he said "To me, our district race is a four team race and Caruthersville is right in the mix. They're going to be right there. They keep getting better, they keep playing harder and they believe they can win. They're a team that is going to get over the hump at anytime and nobody better count them out."

Kennett had four players to reach double-digits in scoring in the game with Wallace leading the way with 17-points. Gooden finished with 16-points, while Caruthers and Lack both had 10-points.

Caruthersville had three players get into double-digits with Vohland Fonda leading the way with 21-points. Taylor put in 19-points and Shaw totaled 14-points.

As coach Heeb left the gym I asked him if he had anything to say about Kennett, he just grinned and said "We're gaining on them."