Hot Tigers put cold Tribe on ice

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Donald Sims (4) tries to shoot over Cape Central freshman Landon Ewers during the first half of Friday's SEMO Conference basketball game at Kennett High School. [Click to enlarge]

Hopefully Friday night's 72-40 loss to the Cape Central Tigers will go down as the lowest point of the season for the Kennett Indians in hindsight.

While that remains to be seen, there is little doubt that it is the Tribe's lowest point to date.

The Tigers scored the game's first nine points and never looked back, hitting shot after shot while keeping Kennett in check to roll in a SEMO Conference contest.

The loss may have left many shaking their heads. It left Kennett coach Jim Vaughan almost speechless.

"We played very poorly, very uncompetitively. That just sums it up in a nutshell," were Vaughan's only words afterwards.

The coach's frustration is justified. After defeating eventual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament champion Hayti and playing Class 5 power Jackson to just eight points in back-to-back games in mid-December, the Tribe has sputtered, its lone win since then coming at the expense of an overmatched Greenville squad.

And Friday's contest was over almost as soon as it began, as the Tigers (7-7) came out of the gate on fire and held a 9-0 lead less than two and a half minutes into the contest.

Donald Sims' basket made it a 10-4 game with 4:35 left in the opening period, but that was as close as the Indians (3-7, 0-2 SEMO) came the rest of the night.

Shane Nolen's 3-pointer with 5:28 left in the first half capped a 6-0 spurt and made it a 30-10 game, and the Tigers' lead never fell below 16 points the rest of the period.

Central took a 41-18 lead to the locker room.

A 3 by Tevin Hampton and a bucket by Ty Coleman briefly cut the Tigers' lead to 21 points (47-26) early in the third quarter, but came no closer as Cape slowly pulled even further away, finally putting in the mercy rule midway through the fourth quarter.

Some of the problem has to do with the Indians' shooting. After canning 12 3-pointers against Hayti, the Tribe hit none in the first half against Cape Central and just three for the game.

Meanwhile, the Tigers canned five in the opening half and finished with six.

Anthony Watts and Chase Johnson led Cape with 17 points each, while Nolen pumped in 14.

Jarvis Finley scored 11 points to pace the Tribe.

Kennett is back in action Tuesday when it heads to Bootheel Conference foe South Pemiscot before playing on the road against archrival Senath-Hornersville next Friday.

Notes: Kennett's junior varsity won 47-42 to improve to 4-1 on the season and 1-1 in SEMO Conference play. ... In other games involving SEMO Conference teams Friday, Sikeston held off Charleston 56-47, while Dexter routed Woodland 81-49.