NMCC takes over late, downs Kennett 51-43

Wednesday, January 6, 2016
NMCC's Chris Farr shoots over Kennett's Ty'Reik Thomas on Tuesday night at New Madrid County Central High School. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

davidj@standard-democrat.com

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Tied at 26 midway through the third quarter, it looked as if Tuesday night's SEMO Conference game between Kennett and New Madrid County Central would go down to the wire.

However, NMCC finished the quarter on a 15-3 run to take control of the game and hung on for a 51-43 win to improve to 7-5 on the season and 1-1 in the SEMO Conference.

"We stopped turning it over and giving them easy baskets," said NMCC coach Travis Day said. "We told them to 'run our press offense, take care of the ball and lets go attack the paint.' When we did that we started building because we kept them out of the paint."

NMCC, who finished the game with 13 turnovers, didn't turn the ball over a single time in the third quarter as baskets by six different players helped the Eagles extend their lead to double figures.

"That was a run of a lot of bad offensive possessions by us," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "If you don't take shots in rhythm that come within the flow of your offense or if you rush into shots that can sometimes lead to easy baskets on the other end and that took place a lot during that run."

The two teams played fairly evenly through the first two and half quarters, with both teams coming out flat to start the game. Neither team scored for almost four minutes of the first quarter and the opening frame ended with NMCC on top 5-4.

"The thing about the first three or four minutes the looks were good, it just wasn't falling for us," Day said. "You'll take that as a coach. We were defending good enough where they couldn't get shots."

Vaughan said a change from man-to-man defense to a zone may have caused his team to come out a bit lethargic.

"I was a little worried about guarding them in space so we played a lot of zone and we haven't played zone all year," Vaughan said. "I thought toughness was a big factor, especially rebounding the basketball. They were definitely a lot more effective attacking the basket than we were. We were awfully passive about it and maybe that has something to do with the way we played defensively."

NMCC stretched their small lead to 24-20 at halftime before Kennett went on a 6-2 run to open the third quarter, tying the game at 26.

Kennett's Rantrell Caruthers looks for an open teammate against NMCC on Tuesday night at New Madrid County Central High School. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

After their run, the Eagles built as much as a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter before Kennett came charging back, slicing the deficit to 48-43 with under a minute to play. However, the Indians were hampered by five-straight missed free throws during that stretch.

"We continued to try and play and cut into it," Vaughan said. "That's a proud effort by us but at the same time during that run we missed five-straight free throws, gave up some offensive rebounds and didn't capitalize on their missed free throws so we could have possibly cut into that lead even more."

NMCC finished the quarter by making three of their final four free throws to seal the game, despite several turnovers.

"The turnovers we had in the fourth quarter were just us holding on to the ball too long and just not knowing truly how to finish," Day said. "We have a new team so it's going to be that learning curve. We are seeing more positive things with this group now so hopefully we can keep it going."

NMCC was led by Chris Farr who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

"He's been doing that lately," Day said. "He had a great tournament over in Carbondale doing the exact same thing -- hitting the offensive boards and attacking the paint. He's slowly learning that when he has success it is because he is driving and attacking."

Javarcus Word finished with 11 points for the Eagles while Garrison Keene added eight.

Fred Gooden paced Kennett (7-6, 0-1) with 12 points and seven rebounds. Edward Wilson added 10 points.

Kennett416914--43
NMCC5191710--51

KENNETT (43) -- Rantrell Caruthers 8, Patrick Maddox 7, Fred Gooden 12, Jahaida Childress 2, Ty'Reik Thomas 2, Edward Wilson 10, Jad Kenny 2. FG 19, FT 5-14, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

NMCC (51) -- Javarcus Word 11, Chris Farr 16, Garrison Keene 8, Ronnie King 7, Jamal Jackson 2, Deon Jenkins 7. FG 21, FT 7-12, F 14. (3-pointers: Keene 1, King 1. Fouled out: none)

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