Cape Central races past Kennett for undefeated conference record

KENNETT — Cape Central (23-1) rolled into Kennett (8-16) Friday and left very little on the court in the Tigers’ 92-50 rout over the Indians.

“I don’t know if we guarded as well as we have,” Cape Central head coach Drew Church said. “We gave up too many straight-line drives, but for the most part a lot of guys got to play, we did some good things, we were unselfish so for the most part we’re happy. To be able to go undefeated in the conference is an accomplishment, especially with how tough this conference is.”

Cape Central’s explosive offense went to work immediately after winning the tip as Cameron Williams put in a dunk to open the game and set the night’s tone early on. The Tigers shot out to an 11-2 lead in the early moments of the night with a three-pointer by Marquel Murray and an easy lay-in by Maxwell Vogel.

By the end of the first quarter Cape Central cemented a 23-7 lead with no plans of slowing down.

While Kennett’s Zy Taylor found the net first in the second quarter with a quick layup, Central’s TySeanDre’ Edwards drove in for a dunk to follow it up.

Kennett junior Zy Taylor (10) charges down the court while guarded by Cape Central's LaTroy McIntosh (22) Friday night at Kennett High School.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

Edwards batted in a missed three-point attempt that bounced off the rim to break 40 points, eventually leading to a 43-23 advantage at halftime in favor of the Tigers.

After the break, Central’s Cameron Williams opened the second half with a layup. With a brief back-and-forth between both teams’ full-court presses, Murray put in another dunk and a layup by Edwards moved the Tigers past the 50-point mark.

Another Murray dunk in the third quarter brought Cape Central to a 30-point lead, 59-29. Minutes later, Williams powered in and got his hands on the rim for another slam dunk to break 70 points.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons, we have good size inside, good guards and shooters, and they’re unselfish,” Church said. “They play together, they don’t care who scores and they guard well, which leads to easy buckets.”

Leading 73-40 ending the third quarter, Central’s Edwards now unsurprisingly charged up the baseline for a dunk from behind to open the final eight minutes.

After the Tigers cycled out four starters with just over four minutes remaining, Kennett’s Hayden Gilmore threw in a three-pointer which was immediately answered by another from Central’s Dalton Toma. After another few minutes of a running clock, Cape Central won 92-50.

“We know the way Kennett plays,” Church said. “They try to play fast and trap the ball and make it an ugly game. I thought we did a better job in the second half handling the pressure in terms of turnovers. Any time you can win in the SEMO Conference is a blessing.”

Cape Central was led in scoring by Cameron Williams with 31 points, followed by TySeanDre’ Edwards with 20 and Marquel Murray with nine.

Zy Taylor paced the Indians with 20 points. Ashton Williams contributed nine, and Ashton Dismukes, Hunter Kirk and Blake Raspberry all scored four.

Next, Kennett travels to Doniphan (16-8) Monday for their final regular season game while Cape Central travels to Park Hills (20-2) Tuesday and hosts Christian Brothers College (14-10) Wednesday.

“You always hate to lose that bad but they’re a good team,” Kennett head coach Noll Billings said. “I thought for the most part we played hard. We didn’t play smart, but we didn’t go out there and intentionally try to shorten the game and slow it down. I wanted to challenge our kids to get better at what we need to get better at.”

“That’s hard to do against Cape Central, and it shows.”