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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For the first time since 2015, the Kickapoo Chiefs captured a Blue and Gold Tournament championship as they rolled to a 62-49 Blue Division victory over Catholic on Thursday night at JQH Arena.
Not only was it the first title in six years for the Chiefs, the win also gave them sole possession of the division titles record with 13.
“It feels great; it’s awesome,” Kickapoo coach Mitch McHenry said. “This is probably my favorite tournament. It means a lot to me individually, but it means a lot to our kids. And I think sometimes they have a hard time understanding the prestige, because they’re only in it every other year. But man, it’s a pretty special one. And it’s really, really hard to win them. It’s been a little bit for us, but I’m really proud of how they played, and we did a great job putting four quarters together today.”
The Chiefs opened the game on a 5-0 run, but Catholic went on a 5-0 run of its own to tie the game at 7, closing out the quarter on an Evan Mayse putback for a 12-11 first-quarter lead.
After battling back and forth throughout the second quarter, Kickapoo scored seven unanswered points on two baskets and a free throw by Trae Oetting and two free throws from Andrew Robinson for a 25-20 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Chiefs made it difficult for Catholic’s Zach Howell, who has 249 career points in this tournament, to get his shots.
“We guarded really, really well,” McHenry said. “I didn’t think they had many open looks. With Zach, you kind of just have to try as hard as you can and hope that you can get a contested shot every single time where he doesn’t get rolling and doesn’t get hot.
“I felt like he didn’t get going because everything was challenged, and we did a great job and we put a couple guys on him. But I think Zaide Lowery had him the whole second half, and really did a great job. That’s why Zaide’s at the level he is and why he’s getting the attention he’s getting because he doesn’t just do it offensively; he’s a difference-maker on defense, also.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Catholic didn’t go away. The Fightin’ Irish fought back to pull within three points (47-44) with 2:33 to go in the game as Liam O’Reilly picked up a steal and hit a 3-pointer, Ty Lyon scored on a basket and a free throw before O’Reilly hit a left-handed layup.
But as the offense started to go cold for Catholic, the Chiefs began to heat up – outscoring the Fightin’ Irish 14-5 the rest of the way.
“We’ve been in that situation a couple times this year, and we’ve kind of thrown the ball all over the gym,” McHenry said. “We eventually started taking care of the ball and got a bunch of layups and open shots, which allowed a three-point lead to be extended to double figures instead of us kind of being on the edge of our seat and keeping it a one-possession game the rest of time.
“We did a great job moving the ball. We didn’t turn it over. We did a great job of moving the ball and being unselfish, and then we just got open looks and hit some free throws. It’s something that we’ve struggled with at times – just taking care of the ball late game and we did a great job tonight after that kind of initial surge where we didn’t do it.”
Oetting, who led all scorers with 21 points, was excited to bring the Blue Division trophy back to Kickapoo, which returned only one starter from last year’s state champion team.
“We are all new to this varsity thing and have stepped into bigger roles,” Oetting said. “We’re all really excited to have done this. I know all of our fans out there and our student section, they’re all pretty excited about this, and we definitely are.”
(1) KICKAPOO 62, (4) CATHOLIC 49
Blue and Gold Tournament
Blue Championship
CATHOLIC 12-8-10-19—49
KICKAPOO 11-14-11-26—62
(4) CATHOLIC (12-1) – Liam O’Reilly 13, Zach Howell 16, Cameron Krueger 2, Ty Lyon 4, Major Riley 7, Quinn Roubal 5, Evan Mayse 2.
(1) KICKAPOO (9-2) – Zaide Lowery 8, Trae Oetting 21, Caron Noel 5, Harrison Doennig 2, Brayden Shorter 8, Andrew Robinson 12, Landon Keisker 6.
Third place: Nixa 66, Hartville 25
Fifth place: Willard 75, Fair Grove 58
Consolation: West Plains 52, Skyline 29
