Portageville holds off Kennett; NMCC season comes to an end
NEW MADRID - The Doniphan Dons avenged a January 30th loss to the New Madrid County Central Eagles by downing the host school 49-43 Monday night in Class 3, District 1 play.
The Eagles end the season with an 8-16 record.
New Madrid was led by Eugene Cooper with 14 points for the game as the only Eagle to reach double figures.
Doniphan had three players to hit double digits with Brett Reed's 15 leading the way. Sophomore Matt Rogers added 14 and Nic Gordon chipped in 10.
The two teams really struggled offensively for the entire first half of play and combined for a meager total of just 34 points at the half.
They were deadlocked at 10 each after one quarter of play.
The second period was even less productive with the Eagles scoring only six points in the frame and the Dons getting eight.
That made the score 18-16 at intermission.
Brett Reed came out in the third quarter for the Dons and put some daylight between New Madrid and Doniphan, netting 12 points in the period including two treys.
The six-point bulge proved to be the final margin of victory as each squad scored 12 in the final quarter.
"We played hard, but we made a lot of mistakes, way too many turnovers. I thought we rebounded well early. We started out the game missing lots of shots. I think that made us try to do too much instead of being patient and working the ball. We ended the year playing hard, but not playing well," concluded Eagle head coach Scott Kruse.
Doniphan advances and will take on the top-seeded Twin Rivers Royals on Thursday night at 6.
Portageville 72, Kennett 63
The Portageville Bulldogs reached the 20-win plateau Monday night by defeating the Kennett Indians 72-63 in Class 3, District 1 play.
Portageville and Kennett have a recent history of playing very hotly contested games and Monday's tilt was no exception.
The first quarter featured three ties and six lead changes.
Both teams got balanced scoring in the opening frame. The Indians' Cody Robinson, who is big and physical, proved to be very effective in the paint.
Aaron Taylor, who got 16 points in the contest, was also a thorn in the Bulldogs' side, netting six points in the quarter to keep the score close.
Portageville was led in the quarter by Jimmy Larry's five.
The Bulldogs grabbed a 13-12 advantage on a Ramone Kershaw back-door layup at the 2:48 mark and Portageville never trailed in the game again. Portageville led 16-14 after one period.
With just under six minutes to play in the half, Willie Hassell who led all scorers in the contest with 27 points, got two consecutive steals to put Portageville ahead by its biggest margin of the evening at 27-14 at the 5:36 mark.
Kennett rallied in the waning moments of the period when Portageville was called for technical foul with 2:11 left. The Indians knocked down both free throws and then managed to cut the lead to only seven by intermission 36-29.
The Indians found the range from downtown in the third period with Dontavis Jones getting three 3-pointers and Danny Ragsdale adding a trey also.
The Bulldogs did a good job of denying the ball to Robinson in the stanza, but with the long-range shooting, Kennett cut the lead to 52-49 to end the third quarter.
"We played a pretty decent ballgame, it wasn't error-free and we gave up a lot of points off the drive, but we battled and came out on top," commented Portageville coach Jim Bidewell. "They've got a couple of quick guards and any time we play Kennett, it's always a battle, and we felt fortunate to win the game."
Portageville outscored Kennett 20-14 in the last quarter including 4-of-7 free throws with under a minute left.
Kennett had three players hit double figures with Dontavis Jones' 17, Cody Robinson's 16 and Aaron Taylor's 15.
Antonio Scott had a good game with 17 to go with Hassell's 27.
Portageville will face Caruthersville Thursday night at 7:30. The two teams split two games this year.