Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Cameron Conder (right) shoots over South Pemiscot's Kaleb Canoy during Monday's first-round game at the Bootheel Conference Tournament at Hayti. Conder had 11 points in Kennett's 69-57 win. [Click to enlarge]

HAYTI, Mo. -- Going all the way back to the beginning of the season, Jim Vaughan has stressed his team's depth as an asset.

That asset was very obvious Monday night, as Vaughan's Kennett Indians used its superior depth to wear down a South Pemiscot team that had just five players in a 69-57 victory in the first round of the Bootheel Conference Tournament.

"That has been one of the things that we have wanted to be a strong point for us all year," Vaughan said afterwards. "It was obvious tonight with them only having five, but I thought that we used it to our advantage."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Ty Coleman (center) is swarmed by a pair of South Pemiscot defenders during Monday's first-round game at the Bootheel Conference Tournament at Hayti. [Click to enlarge]

That advantage showed strongest in the second quarter, as the Tribe (7-10) snapped a 25-all tie with a 20-2 run that turned a close battle into a rout.

"We had a lot of energy that quarter at both ends of the floor," said Vaughan. "We seemed really hungry for rebounds. We probably could have opened it up more but we missed a lot of stickbacks."

Kennett capped that stretch by running off 14 straight points, with the final seven being scored by sophomore Jimmy Gooden.

The Indians also got hot to close the third quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 12-5 over the period's final three minutes to open up a 20-point lead (61-41) by the end of the frame.

The Tribe took its biggest lead on Cameron Conder's 3-point play midway through the fourth quarter that made it 69-47 before South Pemiscot closed the game on a 10-0 run to make the final score more respectable.

Kennett also got a big game from Blake Parr, who added 12 points and strong inside play for the Indians.

"That's as active as I've seen Blake play in the two years that I've been here," Vaughan said. "He moved offensively and he guarded tonight."

Early in the game however, it was a close contest.

The Bulldogs led much of the first quarter and took a 17-11 lead with just under three minutes left in the opening stanza, but Kennett answered with an 8-0 run to erase the lead and never trailed again.

Ashton Harrell's basket with 6:35 left in the second period gave the Tribe a 25-19 lead, but South Pem ran off six unanswered, tying the game at 25 on Maurichio Clay's basket with 5:37 left in the half.

Gooden led Kennett with 14 points, while Conder added 11 off the bench.

Clay paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points, while Kaleb Canoy added 21 in the loss.

With the win, the Indians face top-seeded Hayti in Thursday's semifinals in one of the area's more anticipated rematches of the season after Kennett downed Hayti 81-77 back in December.

"It's been somewhat of a disappointing year for us, but this one would sure help remove some of that bad taste in our mouths," said Vaughan of Thursday's game. "We know we're capable and I think our kids are going to be geared up for it."

Notes: Kennett's victory over Hayti back in December was Hayti's only Bootheel Conference loss of the season and one of just three overall losses for the tourney's top-seeded team. ... Ten players scored for the Indians Monday night. ... In Monday's junior varsity action at the tournament, Portageville downed Caruthersville 57-21, while sixth-seeded Senath-Hornersville upset South Pemiscot 59-50 and No. 2 Hayti routed Malden 59-26.