The Indians rally late to get past the Bearcats

KENNETT, Mo- The Kennett Indians played in their second game in eight days that came down to the last five seconds. The Dexter Bearcats set the tone early and built a lead of 10 points just before the half and nine-points with two minutes left in the third quarter. The Indians rallied though, by once again using their defense to put points on the board and knock off the Bearcats by a score of 62-59.

With two minutes to go in the third period, Kennett changed the game with one of their biggest game-changers, Jay Shavers. Shavers came down with a defensive rebound and on the other end he got the ball to drive the lane and put a spin move on the defender to get a lay-in to pull the Indians within seven-points (46-39). After a failed Bearcat possession, Cameron Wallace had a put-back on an offensive rebound with a minute left in the quarter (46-41). As Dexter brought the ball down the court, Shavers came up with a steal at half-court from Kennett's press and got the ball to Wallace for a lay-up (46-43). Randrick Caruthers came up with another steal from the press as the Bearcats tried to move the ball up the court. Caruthers was fouled on the way to the basket and hit one-of-two from the line with 40 seconds to go in the quarter (46-44). After a time-out, Dexter couldn't get any points out of their possession to close out the period with a slim two-point lead.

"The defense at the end of the third quarter was a big spark for us," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "We went on a run right there at the close of the third quarter and that definitely ignited us when we came to our bench. I told the kids then that this looks like the team that was playing back during Christmas with the way we guarded. Shavers kind of led that charge by getting tips, steals and going to the basket. It certainly had an effect on how we approached the fourth quarter defensively"

The Kennett home crowd went nuts when Shavers came up with another steal one minute into the fourth quarter and got the ball to Jack Walls on a fast break to tie the game up with six minutes left (46-46).

"I just knew that we needed a stop and we were going to have to play harder," said Shavers. "Being the "Spark Plug", I had to go hard and I was going to empty my tank on that run."

On the Bearcats next possession, Jon Bowman hit two foul shots to put Dexter back on top. The Indians took the lead back though when Wallace nailed a 3' from the left side. With the crowd really getting into it during this run, Kennett started to widen the lead a bit. Wallace hit two from the foul line and after Dexter threw the ball away on their possession, Caruthers found Jimmy Gooden in the paint for a basket with 4:38 left to play (53-48).

"We struggled with some foul trouble," said Dexter coach Rob Nichols. "We had Alan Flannigan on the bench most of the second-half with foul trouble. I thought there were about two or three stretches during the game where they sped us up and got us to play their tempo for two or three trips. They got a six or eight point run on two key stretches there. Coach Vaughan has got those guys playing a style that really fits them and they're doing the things that they need to do to be successful."

Brandon Stoker brought the Bearcats back to within three when he drove the lane for a basket but, Walls had a put-back on an offensive rebound to push Kennett's lead back to five with 3:54 to go (55-50). Both teams matched baskets over the next minute and Wallace gave the Indians a six-point lead when he drove the lane for a basket before a timeout with 2:54 to play (59-53).

"Cameron Wallace played a real tough game tonight," said Vaughan. "He made shots early, went to the basket tough and made free throws down the stretch."

At the 1:42 mark, Bowman hit a 3' from the left side for Dexter but, on Kennett's following possession Caruthers found Jimmy Gooden at the top of the key for a 3' (62-56).

After a timeout, the Indians almost stole the ball from the Bearcats to seal the game but, Bowman got into the scrum for the ball and got just enough of it as he was falling down to sling it to Stoker wide open in the corner. Stoker knocked down the 3' and got a rise out of the Bearcat fans to pull Dexter within three-points with 36 seconds left (62-59). The Bearcats had to go to the desperation foul on the next play and Caruthers couldn't hit the one-and-one. With 14 seconds left to play, Stoker shot another 3' for the Bearcats and missed this one. Dwight Usry came up with the rebound for the Indians and was fouled right away. Usry also missed his one-and-one to give Dexter one last shot with 11 seconds left after a timeout. The Bearcats got the ball down court against Kennett's press and with only a few seconds to go, the Bearcats went to Stoker one more time. Stoker's shot came up empty from the corner and Usry secured both arms around the rebound for Kennett as time expired (62-59).

"There at the end we missed the front end of three "One-and One's that would have helped put it away," said Vaughan. "With it being a three-point game with 11 seconds left, we pressed but it was more of a contain press. Walls ended up guarding the basketball which is great for us. There aren't many kids that can lock'em down like he can. We wanted to take a few seconds off the clock before they got the ball across half-court. I think Walls took five-seconds off the clock by just making the basketball change directions. That gave them that much less time to run what they had drawn up in the huddle during their time-out. Consequently, they took kind of a wild shot at the end and Usry did a great job of securing the ball right away on the miss. It was real good execution on our part there at the end."

The Indians had to play the game without one of their biggest three-point threats in Andy Lack, who has really been shooting the ball and playing well all-around lately.

"We had to play without Andy tonight," said Vaughan. "It hurt us because we have the ability to penetrate but, when the defense collapses we can kick the ball out to him to knock them down. Wallace, Caruthers, and Gooden had some big 3-pointers tonight but, it would have been nice to have Andy out there with that threat as well. It was equally important to play one man short and finish the game as tough as we did tonight. When we get him back it will make us that much stronger. "

Kennett got some momentum going after halftime when they made some adjustments and started to cut into the Bearcat lead. One factor in this is the way Kennett did on the boards to start the half. The Indians, who were undersized to the Bearcats, out rebounded Dexter 7-2 in the first four minutes of the half with Gooden bringing down three of them and Usry pulling in two. The Bearcats would open their lead up once again though.

Thirty seconds into the half, Fred Garmon found Caruthers cutting down the baseline to bring Kennett back to within five-points (34-29).

"Garmon didn't have many points tonight but, he still had eight assist. He's real effective for us and takes care of our team." said Vaughan.

Usry got a steal from the press on the next possession that led to Gooden getting a put-back on an offensive rebound (34-31). After a few free throws by both teams, Garmon was able to draw a charge to get the ball back for the Indians.

"Taking charges is something that we've been working on," said Vaughan. "It's developed some toughness for us and our kids are buying into it. Thats what it comes down to, if the kids will do what they have to do at this time of the year. Our kids are definitely doing that."

The charge call was on Flannigan, the big 6'5 junior, who had already gotten into foul trouble early.

"Flannigan is a skill kid. We really had to pay attention to him. We didn't do a good job on him in the first half. He was able to post steal us without backside help and he does a good job of finding position. His length created problems for us because he can enter the post well away from where we're guarding him. If we don't have another player their to squeeze him it hurts us. We were hurt early by that. We were able to get him in foul trouble on a drive to the basket by a great charge draw from Garmon. That was his fourth foul and they had to play without him for a stretch."

On the next play following the charge call, Gooden had another put-back on an offensive rebound to tie the game up at the 5:40 mark of the third period (35-35).

The Bearcats took the lead back on the next possession with Summers sinking a pull-up jumper in the lane. One minute later, Dexter had a chance to stretch their lead back open when Stoker was fouled hard on a 3-pointer that he made. Stoker converted the four-point play to give the Bearcats a seven-point lead with four minutes left in the third period (42-35).

"Stoker is a tough kid" said Vaughan. "He makes it go for them by shooting and handling the ball well. We didn't do a great job with him early but, I like to think we were able to wear him down and guard him a little more effectively. Thats what our game plan needs to be with everybody. He wasn't as effective in the fourth quarter but, he competed all the way to the end and I love how that kid plays."

The Indians answered back with Garmon getting the ball to Adam Grantham in the paint for a bucket (42-37).

Dexter widened the lead to nine-points over the next minute. Gary Summers had a fast break basket and the Bearcats got two more points from free throws with no scoring coming from Kennett (46-37).

The second quarter is when the Bearcats were really able to open up their lead on Kennett. The Indians came out and took control to start the second quarter but, Dexter played their style of game throughout the period to take a good size lead. The Bearcats did a particularly good job of moving the ball around then dishing it inside to a big man or driving to the basket against the Indians.

"We really controlled the tempo, I thought, in the first-half," said Nichols. "We did a good job of slowing the game down and getting the ball inside where we thought we had an advantage. Controlling the tempo in the first-half was the key to the good start."

Kennett's Shavers came up with a steal right of the bat in the second period that led to Caruthers driving to the basket to pull the Indians within 3 (20-17). After a failed Bearcat possession, Garmon drove to the basket then dished it to Usry to cut the lead to one at the 6:47 mark in the second (20-19). One minute later, Garmon came up with a steal off of Kennett's press that was unable to be converted to points. Gary Summers added a basket for Dexter at the 5:15 mark and one minute later Usry came up with another steal off of Kennett's press and put in a lay-up (22-21).

The Bearcats started to open their lead after that. Bowman and Bryn Hester hit back-to-back 3's to give Dexter a seven-point lead (30-23). Shavers came up with another steal for Kennett from the press but, was only able to hit one of two from the line. After the Bearcats got another basket in the paint, Taylor Jarrell put in two-points from underneath with 10 seconds left in the half to give Dexter a 10-point advantage (34-24). With two seconds left before halftime, Usry nailed a 3' from the corner for Kennett to close out the half and cut the lead to seven-points (34-27).

Back in the first quarter the Bearcats started to open a lead at the end that would set the tone for how they would play the next two quarters.

After Kennett took the opening shot Garmon came up with two offensive rebounds but, was unable to convert them to points on the board. The Bearcats got on the board first when Flannigan drove to the basket for two-points. The Indians got on the board with a goaltending call but, Dexter took the lead back on the next possession with Jarrell finding Ryan Windham at the top of the key for a 3-pointer (5-2).

Two minutes into the game Kennett matched Dexter's goaltending call with one of their own to give the Bearcats a five-point lead (7-2). On the Indians next possession Caruthers found Wallace in the corner for a 3' and after a Bearcat basket, Garmon found Caruthers at the top of the key for a 3' to pull Kennett within one (9-8). Three minutes into the game, Flannigan got his second basket in the paint for the Bearcats but, on Dexter's next possession Caruthers blocked Flannigan's shot underneath the basket. The Indians tied the game with four-minutes left in the first quarter with Garmon finding Wallace on the left side for his second 3' of the game (11-11).

The Bearcats went on a run to close out the quarter with four-points from free throws, Flannigan nailing a 3' and Hester getting a bucket in the paint to put Dexter on top going into the second period (20-15). The Bearcats lead after one might have been bigger but, Kennett's Garmon was able to draw a charge call on a Dexter drive then Garmon sunk a basket with one second left.

Dexter had three players reach double figures in scoring with Stoker leading the way at 19-points. Summers totaled 11 and Flannigan finished with 10-points.

Kennett also had three players reach double figures with Wallace leading at 19-points. Caruthers finished with 12 and Gooden totaled 11-points.