Central boys basketball team finishes strong to beat Kennett

~ The Tigers overcame a deficit in the final minute to win 62-59

When Kennett capped a 9-1 run to take a three-point lead with 1 minute, 2 seconds remaining Friday, it could have been the end of the night for Central.

But it's never the end of the night when Jamal Cox and Andre Statam are part of the team.

Throw in the recent emerging offensive outburst of Al Young and the Tigers (9-8) were able to overcome a sloppy second half and make big plays to capture a 62-59 victory over conference foe Kennett.

Young, who scored a team-high 25 points, netted seven of the Tigers' final 10 points.

"Coach was like -- we were going into practice and he would tell me to get to the hole and if I get to the hole I can finish," Young said. "Then he said if I was open to shoot it, shoot your jump shot, take it slow."

Young was the perfect answer to the Indians (11-11) comeback.

Down 55-52 with just over a minute to go, the Tigers set to work clawing back into the game.

The Tigers and Indians traded free throws before Young missed two free throws but managed to find the ball in a scrum after the rebound was deflected and hit a layin to make it a 57-56 game with 32 seconds left.

"He attacked well and didn't take bad shots," Central coach Drew Church said. "He attacked well and got to the rim and made some free throws and that's what we have to have Al do. We always tell him, 'Do things you can do and do them well,' and he really took them to heart today."

Kennett's Rantrell Caruthers made one of two free throws to give the Indians a 58-56 lead and Central called a timeout on the ensuing possession to set up a play.

It worked to perfection.

Jalen Reddin received the ball near the Central bench and Statam came off a low screen and took a pass at the top of the key from Reddin and buried a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 59-58 lead they would not relinquish.

"We got a sideline play that I come up to the top," Statam said. "Jalen [Reddin] was open, but he swung it to me and I was in rhythm, so I had to take the shot."

Central's Kway'chon Chisom passes behind his back to Jamal Cox as Kennett's Kevonte Mitchell looks on during the first quarter Friday, Feb. 7, 2014 at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

It was a big 3 for Statam, who was saddled with foul trouble the entire game but managed to pour in 16 points, nine coming after halftime.

"I just played my game," Statam said. "Let the game come to me and didn't force anything, passed the ball around and it got back to me, and I scored some points down the stretch."

After making the shot, Statam committed a foul on the other end to gift the Indians' Materion Jones two free throws with 9 seconds left.

Jones missed both free throws and Young buried two more at the charity stripe to make it a 61-58 game with 4 seconds left.

"That's by a senior that ought to be able to step up there and at least get one, no question," Kennett coach Jim Vaughan said of the missed free throws. "I think that comes to focus in practice time and how we go about making free throws in practice time. That's a disappointing two missed free throws."

The Tigers purposely fouled Kennett before it could get a 3-point attempt off with one second left and Kevonte Mitchell made the first free throw before intentionally missing the second, but the ball never touched the backboard and Central gained possession and the win.

"We just played smart basketball," Central senior Jamal Cox said. "High IQ basketball."

Central managed to build a 31-24 lead at halftime, but Mitchell was a one-man wrecking crew for the Indians.

The senior was outstanding, making difficult plays look easy all night and showing a remarkable touch from beyond the arc.

"The basket had to look huge for him because he sure was stroking it," Vaughan said. "That's nice for us to see and that's nice for him to see, that gives him a boatload of confidence. We're telling our kids all the time that obviously he's going to take the bulk of our shots, and when he's doing that he just makes a believer out of everybody. He makes me look a whole lot smarter."

Mitchell scored a game-high 30 points, including six 3-pointers.

"I don't know if we could have put five on him and stopped him tonight," Church said. "He's a heck of player and he hit shots that we were right in his face contesting. He's just a good player. He's hard to guard because he's not just a shooter and not just a driver. He's both and he's super athletic."

The Indians used Mitchell's offense and stingy defense in the second half to get back in the game.

Kennett forced the Tigers' guards into numerous turnovers in the third and appeared to rattle Central.

"They picked up their intensity a little bit in the third quarter and our guards started to play a little fast and wanted to play at their tempo," Church said. "That's not what we want to do, we wanted to play at our tempo and slow it down and get good shots. Those are all learning mistakes."

Kennett managed a 40-39 lead heading into the fourth before Central took the 51-46 lead before the closing minutes.

Kennett 12 12 16 19 -- 59

Central 15 16 8 23 -- 62

KENNETT (59) -- Antavies Drake 2, Rantrell Caruthers 9, Kevonte Mitchell 30, Andre Oliver 12, Materion Jones 6. FG 12, FT 8-14, F 15. (3-pointers: Mitchell 6, Oliver 1, Jones 2. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (62) -- Al Young 25, Jamal Cox 17, Chase Haggerty 2, Mikey Jones 2, Andrew Statam 16. FG 21, FT 8-17, F 16. (3-pointers: Young 2, Statam 2. Fouled out: Statam, Jones)