By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD — With one of the state’s top teams in town to face a Kickapoo squad that hadn’t played in two weeks, it might have been tough to predict the start of Tuesday’s game.
Unless you happen to play for the Chiefs.
“I could have probably told you that was going to happen,” Kickapoo senior Brayden Shorter said. “We haven’t played in a long time and to come out and start the (conference) season off like that is a good feeling. I could have told you because we had all that pent-up energy.”
Shorter led all scorers with 18 points — making him one of three Chiefs in double-figures — as the Chiefs opened their Ozark Conference schedule with a dominant, high-energy 70-38 victory over Rolla at Kickapoo High School.
Harrison Doennig added 17 points and Trae Oetting contributed 15 for Kickapoo, which scored 35 of the game’s first 40 points and rolled to its 20th consecutive conference victory.
Kickapoo, which has won at least a share of the conference title in eight of the past nine seasons, has not lost an in-conference game since a 13-point defeat against Lebanon in February 2020.
By rolling past a 9-3 (0-1) team that received votes in the latest Class 5 rankings, the state’s eighth-ranked Class 6 team improved to 7-2 (1-0) on the season and made a statement in its first on-court action since December 20, 2022.
“You never know how you’re going to come out when we’ve been kind of sitting around or having to practice a little bit,” Kickapoo coach Mitch McHenry said. “Really proud of the effort we had. Executed well. I thought we brought the energy really the entire game – and especially to start the game.”
The Chiefs sat out the holidays as they prepare to be one of the local representatives in the upcoming Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, which begins on January 12.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“I just want to go out there and just prove ourselves because I think everyone is expecting us to be last, or be the lowest team in the tournament,” Shorter said. “I think we can go out and surprise some people.”
The Chiefs certainly surprised a few people in their conference opener, taking a 26-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretching that to 46-16 at halftime.
Three Kickapoo seniors – Shorter (12 points), Doennig (11) and Oetting (11) — were all in double-digits entering the break, as Kickapoo’s battle-tested roster overpowered a Rolla team that had won seven straight games, including a victory in its home holiday tournament.
Kickapoo led by as many as 40 points in the fourth quarter before Rolla closed on a 11-2 run.
“We know what a championship effort is and our kids know what a championship effort is,” McHenry said. “I thought when we came back from break after Christmas, we had three really good practices, we had a day off and then we had two so-so practices going into this. And we just told them we expect more of this group and we have more to give. I thought they did a great job of responding and doing it tonight.”
Rolla sophomore John Papadakos (15 points) and freshman Ethan Brown (14 points) both finished in double-figures for the Bulldogs.
Kickapoo senior Landon Keisker added five points, as the four members of the Class of 2023 were responsible for 55 of the host team’s 70 points.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
“We’re pretty well-balanced,” McHenry said. “It starts with our seniors. Our four seniors play at a high level. They’re really good. Three of those four lead us in scoring a lot. When you have three guys that are capable of scoring 15 to 20 each game, that helps things out quite a bit.”
Kickapoo’s seniors have played increasingly-important roles in a program that won the 2021 Class 6 title, won a Blue & Gold championship later that year and fell to state runner-up Nixa in last season’s district championship game.
Their leadership has helped the Chiefs remain a title contender despite losing all-everything guard Zaide Lowery, who transferred to national powerhouse La Lumiere for his senior season.
“We just need to play together – play hard,” Shorter said. “I think it’s going to be a long season, but it’s going to be a fun season because all of us have been playing together for a long time. To be able to play varsity basketball together for two years in a row, it’s a really fun thing.”
ROLLA (9-3, 0-1) 5 11 9 13 — 38
KICKAPOO (7-2, 1-0) 26 20 19 5 — 70
