By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Kickapoo Chiefs used a 7-0 run in the second quarter to pull away for a 48-38 Ozark Conference home victory over the Parkview Vikings on Monday night.
The Chiefs’ run began on a coast-to-coast layup by sophomore guard Anton Brookshire to put Kickapoo up 17-14 with 5:32 left in the second quarter. Brookshire then found Tanner Oetting on the wing for a 3-pointer, and then got the ball to Cary Ragan cutting down the lane on an inbounds play to give the Chiefs an eight-point lead (22-14).
Parkview junior Dontae Taylor answered with a right-handed layup to pull the Vikings to 22-16, before Brookshire hit a basket on a drive down the lane to give Kickapoo a 24-16 advantage heading into the locker room.
“In the second quarter, we did a lot better job,” Kickapoo coach Mitch McHenry said. “(Parkview) only got one offensive rebound, which resulted in the five points they scored in the quarter, because we would make them shoot a challenged shot and then go get the rebound.
“That was kind of a key to get our lead; it was just being more disciplined and more physical on the defensive end.”
The Chiefs, who improved to 7-3 overall and 4-0 in the OC, got contributions from five different players in the second quarter, as they outscored Parkview (9-5, 1-1) 13-5.
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“With a team like that, with as physical as they are, with as big and strong as they are, it’s very noticeable if we have three guys trying to go rebound and two guys don’t; those two guys are going to give up an offensive rebound,” McHenry said.
“We’d have a couple of guys doing things the right way, but then a couple were either ball-watching or not hitting their man. Then, we get five guys rebounding, and all five doing their role and it really helped.”
Senior center Latre Morrison scored four straight points to spark the Vikings at the beginning of the second half and cut the Chiefs’ lead in half. But two free throws from Micah McIntire and a steal and layup from Brookshire, who led all scorers with 18 points, quickly put Kickapoo back up by eight (28-20).
“We had some guys hit some big shots at key moments,” McHenry said. “I feel like we’ve got a very good shooting team, and then we throw a couple of bigs around the basket and I feel like we can really attack some matchups.
“What we have got to do better is not turn the ball over; we’re turning the ball over way too much. We finished the game tonight and had a bunch of turnovers down the stretch. Instead of building a 10- or a 14-point lead, instead of building it up to 20, it stays around 10 just because we can’t finish the game.”
Parkview used a 6-2 run starting with just under three minutes to go in the game when 6-foot-1 Taylor blocked 6-8 David Senn and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Morrison scored on a putback and Nakai Johnson drove down the lane for a basket to pull the Vikings within single digits for the first time since midway through the third quarter.
But it was too little, too late for Parkview, which hadn’t played since its loss to Rogersville on Dec. 29 in the Blue championship of the Blue & Gold Tournament.
“We just never got in a rhythm of doing anything,” Parkview coach Landon Cornish said. “I don’t think we shared the ball as well as we have been. I think we were just a little too selfish with it, and (Kickapoo) had a lot to do with that, defensively. They switched and they were very sound and did a lot of good things.
“We tried to force too many plays instead of using each other.”
Kickapoo, which was coming off an 81-71 OC win over Camdenton on Jan. 4, went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line in the victory.
“We battled to hold a team like that to 38 points,” McHenry said. “We really did a good job and locked in after that first quarter with our game plan and what we needed to be successful.”
Ozark Conference game
KICKAPOO 48, PARKVIEW 38
PARKVIEW 11-5-9-13—38
KICKAPOO 11-13-14-10—48
PARKVIEW (9-5, 1-1) – Anthony Green 6, Dontae Taylor 12, Latre Morrison 6, Nakai Johnson 9, JaVeo Tolliver 1, Jon Franklin 4.
KICKAPOO (7-3, 4-0) – Anton Brookshire 18, David Senn 7, Micah McIntire 7, Elijah Bridgers 4, Tanner Oetting 8, Cary Ragan 2, Jalen McGarrah 2.
Kickapoo B 59, Parkview B 42
