Kennett Indians season comes to an end after quarterfinal loss

Photo courtesy of Al Jones
Kennett's Cameron Wallace (4) guards Cardinal Ritter's Cameron Biedscheid in the quarterfinal game [Order this photo]

It was an incredible season for Kennett as this basketball team got the whole community caught up in the excitement.

"Awesome community pride," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "This past season has been overwhelming from our school and students to our entire community. Everyone knew that Kennett was there tonight and in Dexter for the sectional games. It's just very special for me to have gotten to experience and be a part of it. I am not a Kennett native, but felt every bit of the pride that went into this whole experience. All of Kennett deserves recognition for what our boys and girls accomplished this year as it was a group effort."

This Kennett basketball team got that excitement started by winning games that Kennett has come up short in during the past. This was the first season that the Indians won the annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. This was also the first season that Kennett won the Bootheel Conference and Bootheel Conference Tournament in the same season.

The real excitement came during the district tournament though. After being ranked as high as fourth in the state, the Indians fell out of the rankings in the last week of the regular season. Two losses to New Madrid and Charleston, district opponents, were the factor for Kennett falling out of the rankings. In the following weeks district tournament, many people felt that the Indians would be dead to rights.

The Indians made short work of Caruthersville in the district tournament then shocked everyone as they pulled off a championship victory over Charleston. The win over Charleston gave Kennett it's first district title since 1975.

The milestones weren't over for Kennett. The Indians faced the state ranked number one team among Class 3 in the Arcadia Valley Tigers in the sectionals. Except for a scare at the start of the second half, the Indians completely dominated the Tigers to give Kennett it's first ever sectional win and first quarterfinal appearance.

Kennett faced off against the Cardinal Ritter Lions in the quarterfinal game. The Lions were ranked fourth among Class 3 teams in the state and played a similar style of ball as the Indians. The Lions jumped out early, but Kennett eventually settled in. The Indians made some runs in the game to pull close to even, but never could overcome that initial deficit.

The outlook of the game looked bleak in the opening minutes after tip-off. It was all Cardinal Ritter as they started the game on a 10-0 run.

"Their beginning run was probably the difference in the game," Vaughan said. "We lost the first quarter by 11-points, and pretty well, played toe to toe the rest of the way. If we don't get down that early, it could've have changed a lot of what they did throughout the game. Having a lead gives you a lot of confidence to be playmakers, and that's what they did all night. On the other hand, making an effort to play catch-up takes it's toll on you. But, nobody can say that our kids didn't play all the way to the end. That's what makes them - they will never stop competing."

Cardinal Ritter took the opening tip and Mylin Jordan drove to the basket for the games first bucket. Eric Clark stole the ball as Kennett in-bounded it. Clark's steal led to Biedscheid putting back an offensive rebound to make the score 4-0. After Cameron Biedsheid's basket, Jordan got another steal as Kennett tried to bring the ball in. This turnover led to Clark getting a basket in the paint 6-0. With Kennett being unable to get the ball across half court in their first two tries, they failed again on their next attempt. Cardinal Ritter had the ball again and Wendell Crowder hit one of two from the foul line (7-0)

Kennett called timeout at the 7:03 mark of the first quarter and facing a 7-0 deficit already.

The Indians got the ball on their end of the court 1:20 into the game after three failed attempts. Cardinal Ritter capitalized on all three of those turnovers.

Not only did Cardinal Ritter look to be in total control early on, but Kennett's starting point-guard, Fred Garmon, got into early foul trouble. The Indians would have to play a good part of the game with their assist leader and playmaker on the bench.

"Losing Garmon so early is like losing starting QB in football," Vaughan said. "He does so much in controlling the ball and how we go offensively along with making the plays that he can make. He ended up with 23-points. He went out of game with 6:27 left in first quarter. What if he'd have gotten to play the whole game?"

Kennett's first possession on their end of the court was a failed one and Cardinal Ritter pushed their lead to 10-0 over the next two-minutes.

Randrick Caruthers finally put the Indians on the board with a fast break basket with 4:40 left in the first quarter 10-2.

Caruthers basket was the point where Kennett started to prove that they belonged in this game.

Jay Shavers came up with a steal for the Indians on Cardinal Ritter's next offensive set and took it to the basket himself on a fast break (10-4). After an offensive rebound put back by Cardinal Ritter, Caruthers drove to the basket for the Indians on their end. As the defense collapsed in the paint on Caruthers, he kicked the ball out to Andy Lack on the left side of the arc. Lack knocked down the 3' to pull Kennett closer (12-7). Kennett's Adam Grantham came up with another steal for Kennett on the next possession but the turnover couldn't be converted to points. Kennett pulled to within two-points of the lead when Caruthers once again found Lack on the left side for another 3' (12-10). After a shocking first couple of minutes, the Indians had pulled to within two-points of the lead with 2:48 left in the first quarter.

The run was short lived though as Cardinal Ritter opened their lead up to 13-points 20-seconds into the second quarter (25-12).

"We had to pick our poison on who to give more attention to," Vaughan said. "Clark and Biedscheid are top two scorers, so we devoted more attention to them. I thought we guarded Biedscheid really well as we face guarded him. He ended up with 12-points, but probably toughest 12-points he's gotten all year. Clark hurt us on offensive rebounding when others would get to the lane. They had other players step up and take on some of the scoring role which is what good teams do. But they really hurt us with their ability to offensive rebound."

After being down by 10-points or more twice already in the game, the Indians were still able to fight back.

At the 7:30 mark in the second quarter, Jimmy Gooden made a pass to Jack Walls streaking down the court for a basket (25-14). Garmon got two-points by driving the baseline for two-points (25-16). A few possessions later, Garmon drove into the lane. Then, he dished a behind the back pass to Shavers in the lane for a basket (25-18). After Cardinal Ritter got a basket in the paint from Evan Jones, Gooden hit two foul shots for Kennett with 5:25 left in the half. Cameron Wallace followed Gooden's foul shots with two of his own (27-22). The Indians had cut the lead down to five-points with 4:48 left in the first half.

"We finally started getting the ball out more quickly," Vaughan said. "We knew we had to get as much early-easy offense as possible. We started getting ball out quick, guys out running Ritter, and ball handlers finding them. It's what we've done all year, just wish we could've settled into that a little earlier in the contest."

Kennett ran into more trouble though when Lack started to get into foul trouble. After Lack hit two early 3's to pull the Indians back into the game, he hit another one later in the second quarter. Lack definitely had his stroke going from behind the arc on this night.

"Lack was geared up right away and focussed on what he does best," Vaughan said. "It's not easy being relied on to make shots and he did it with speed and length running at him. We didn't want him to get his third foul in the first half. But Ritter made the adjustment to him in the second half. They just weren't going to leave him. Good job on their part to take that away from us."

Like Garmon, Lack eventually fouled out of the game and came off of the court to a standing ovation.

Cardinal Ritter opened their lead back up before the end of the half by starting a trend of pounding the ball inside to Jones. In the final five minutes of the half, Jones saw the ball inside six times and gave Cardinal Ritter a 42-32 advantage going into halftime.

"Arguably the best rebounding team we've faced this year not only in terms of size and athleticism to do it, but the energy and desire to go and get it done," Vaughan said. "That was clearly in their favor and I don't think that was due to lack of effort from our kids."

Cardinal Ritter started to open their lead in the second half and the Indians had trouble putting runs together to stay close. By the 7:50 mark of the fourth quarter, Cardinal Ritter had opened a 17-point lead (62-45).

"They countered what we tried to neutralize," Vaughan said. "Different kids stepped up for them tonight in a scoring role more than usual. Give their kids credit for that. That's what good teams do. That's been us all year. We've had different leading scorers throughout the year and that's what's made us so hard to defend. That's what we faced tonight. A team with more weapons than what we could take away."

Kennett's spark plug, Shavers, tried to spark a run with time running out on the Indians' season. Shavers came up with a steal with 6:51 left in the game. The turnover led to Shavers knocking down two-shots from the foul line (62-47).

"Shavers competed the best I've seen all year," Vaughan said. "He has absolutely no fear. We knew we had to start taking more chances defensively to try and get back in it, and we had some guys just make defensive plays with Shavers leading that effort."

Shavers came up with another steal for the Indians as Cardinal Ritter got into their offensive set. The turnover led to Shavers being fouled again, but this time Shavers came up empty on the foul shots. With Cardinal Ritter back into their offensive set, a held ball was called on the court and the possession arrow favored the Indians with 6:00 left in the game. The Indians threw the ball away on offense, but Caruthers was able to dive for the ball out of bounds and sling it to Garmon in the paint. Garmon put the shot in with 5:45 left (62-49). Garmon also came up with a steal for Kennett on the next possession and was fouled. Garmon hit both shots to cut the lead to 11-points with 5:30 left in the game and forced Cardinal Ritter to call a timeout (62-51).

Kennett's run didn't last though and Cardinal Ritter ended up closing the game out (76-62).

In the final minute, Kennett brought their two senior's out of the game.

"In my opinion, two kids like that are not replaceable for what they bring not only on the

court, but with the type of quality people they are," Vaughan said. "Dwight Usry's energy is unmatchable. I'm so proud for him that he was such an important part of this season's success after watching much of the action for the past three years. He's definitely earned what he's achieved. Gooden is the poster child for unselfishness. We moved him up his freshman year to play the point as we struggled with ball handling. And over the years, as our guard play got better, he evolved into our "big man." He's never balked on what we've asked of him and that's so impressive for a kid. I love them both like they're my own and will miss getting to be with them every day, let alone coaching them. They have impacted my life, our coach's and player's lives, and my family's lives in a capacity that we'll all hold dearly in our hearts. Truly inspirational young men."

The two senior leaders, Gooden and Usry, came off the court to a loud standing ovation from the huge Kennett crowd that made the trip to Farmington.

"The energy that our crowd brings plays a huge role in how our kids perform," Vaughan said. "They love a big stage and that's what our crowd brings for us. And it instills even more confidence when they see so many familiar faces. We appreciate all the support so much. An accomplishment like this just isn't as satisfying if you don't have others there with whom to share it and it was a team, school, and an entire community. Thank you all of Kennett. You were as much a part of it as anything that happened on the court."

Kennett will be returning the majority of the team next year with Gooden and Usry being the only two departing seniors from this season. The Indians will go into next season with a world of experience after the run they made this season along with the competition they have faced.

"I think are kids are going to have a more hungry off-season," Vaughan said. "We see right where we stand with the best in the state and I think our kids will have a better focus on what it's going to take to get the mission accomplished. These kids want to get there."

Cardinal Ritter had five players reach double figures in scoring in the game with Jordan leading at 18-points. Jones put in 16-points. Crowder and Clark both had 13-points and Biedscheid finished with 12-points.

Kennett was led in scoring by Garmon with 23-points and Lack with 9-points.