By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Kickapoo made the most of its turn to play in the Blue & Gold tournament and helped erase some bitter memories from Great Southern Bank Arena in the process.
In a hotly anticipated battle between the top two seeds, it was the Chiefs who clamped down defensively and came away with a 47-43 win over Logan-Rogersville on Monday night in the Blue Division championship game.
“It’s obviously great, a different experience for us,” said Kickapoo junior Reese Kimrey. “Last time we were on this court it didn’t go our way in the state championship my freshman year…so it’s definitely a good feeling to be out there as the winner this time.”
Kickapoo coach Mitch McHenry was just pleased with his team’s defense and rebounding.
“We were guarding like crazy,” he said. “Last year’s team was locked in and had a great year. This team is doing the same thing. They’re bought into each other. What I appreciate the most is we’re better defensively than we probably thought we were going to be going into the year.”
That defensive prowess was on display from the start, when second seed Rogersville opened the game with a two-minute scoreless possession and then totaled just four points in the first quarter. The top-seeded Chiefs, meanwhile, led 13-4 after eight minutes and then 18-4 early in the second quarter before Rogersville fought back.
But when Kickapoo was tested, the Chiefs found a way. Their early 14-point lead had dwindled to just 4 by halftime, and then Rogersville opened the second half with baskets from Marcus Moore and Chase Branham to tie the game at 26.
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Kimrey made 3 free throws to get Kickapoo back on top, and then Brock Thompson grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into a three-point play to make it a 32-26 game. It was 39-30 by the end of the third.
Kickapoo led 45-32 with less than five minutes remaining before going cold offensively. Rogersville, meanwhile, scored on four-straight possessions and pulled within 45-41 on a Jase Pettifurd basket with 3:12 remaining.
And then the Chiefs went cold at the free throw line, too, missing 5 of 6 attempts in the final 61 seconds.
Rogersville’s Chase Branham scored on a short jumper in traffic to make it a 3-point game (46-43) with 52 seconds to play, and then the Wildcats got the ball back and called timeout with 20 seconds on the clock.
“It would have been nice if we’d made some free throws, it would not be a one-possession game” McHenry said. “We did not want to give up a 3. They were out of timeouts, it was 20 seconds when they threw the ball in so we wanted to guard the 3-point line and if they hit a 2 we knew we had a great chance of getting the ball in and getting back to the free throw line. And we had trust in our guys to finally, hopefully make a free throw and get it back to 3 points. We just didn’t want to give up a catch and shoot 3 and our guys did a great job of making them shoot a tough 3 that was off the line and we got the rebound.”
It was Branham, Rogersville’s sophomore standout, who got off a heavily-contested 3-point attempt in the waning seconds that fell short.
“I saw him get up the shot and I was like oh no and then it was tipped so I went and got it,” said Kickapoo senior Jackson Shorter. “I was not letting anyone else get it because I didn’t want to let them have a chance.”
Brock Thompson, too, added a valuable rebound when he corralled Shorter’s missed free throw (he made the first one) just before the buzzer.
“I’m just proud of how dialed in we were and how well we were guarding as a group,” McHenry said. “Elijah Nabors does a great job guarding, he’s kind of our defensive stopper, but it’s not like we’re 6-5 across the board with a bunch of defensive stoppers. We do it as a team. And I was also very proud, they’re a big team and a long team; their guards are long and tall and we rebounded really, really well tonight and that was really the difference in the game. We told them if we could not turn the ball over and get shots and rebound we’d have a great chance to win the game.”
“All of our guys, we like to do defense first,” Kimrey said. “Our offense will come to us but to win a game you’ve got to play defense first so we focus on that. During our shootarounds especially we lock in and talk even if we’re walking through stuff. It’s definitely a big thing for us.”
Kickapoo last won a Blue & Gold title in 2021 when the Chiefs knocked off Catholic. They haven’t played in the field since.
“A lot of these kids it’s their only Blue & Gold they get to play in,” McHenry said. “For them to be able to get it done in their one and only chance is really special and I feel great for our group and our team with the limited opportunities that we get. It is very difficult to win four games. It’s very difficult to win this tournament.”
Kickapoo (10-2) was led in scoring by Shorter’s 16. Kimrey and Thompson each scored 7, Brayden Rubidoux scored 6, Nabors had 5, Levi Phillips had 4 and Vincent Mhire added 2.
Rogersville (9-2) got 11 points apiece from Branham and Pettifurd. Marcus Moore scored 10.
