Jackson defeats Kennett 69-44 to reach title game of SEMO Conference Tournament

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Jackson senior Karson King gave his team the first points of the second half against Kennett when his 3-point attempt bounced up off the rim and improbably rattled in.

The shot seemed to open the basket for the everyone on the Jackson roster, and the Indians made 10 of the first 11 field goals of the third quarter on their way to a 69-44 victory in a SEMO Conference Tournament semifinal Thursday night at Sikeston.

Jackson had 11 field goals in the quarter after making just 12 in the first half and opened the quarter on a 24-3 run to turn what had been an eight-point game at halftime into a blowout.

"We thought the first three minutes would be important," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said about the second half. "Kennett -- I haven't got to see them a ton, but coach [Jim] Vaughan does a great job with them. We were really worried about just not giving them some life getting open from the 3-point line. They went three possessions in a row against Cape, hit three 3's and got an and-1 on it. They had a 10-0 run on three possessions, so you go to sleep on them for three possessions and they can go on a 10-0 run."

The Indians, who shot 4 of 18 in the first quarter and trailed 14-11 at the end of it, missed seemingly shot after shot in the paint early on.

Jackson’s Braden Wendel drives the lane against Kennnett during their semifinal game at the SEMO Conference Tournament.

"I thought finishing around the basket we played a little soft," Scott said. "I thought that started out tonight even. We got the ball inside a few times and didn't finish, didn't go up strong with the basketball."

Scott turned down an opportunity to attribute the misses to the law of averages or a fluke run of bad bounces.

"We should be able to finish," Scott said. "You're going to miss a shot or two, but, to be honest, if you practice every day and you go up strong and finish, you're going to make some shots. I thought we weren't going up strong, going up to finish. We were hoping we'd get fouled, and we just weren't going up strong with it at all."

Jackson junior Blake Reynolds, who finished with a game-high 19 points, said he thought increased attention to rebounding helped with the team's finishing woes.

"We kind of actually struggled with that yesterday, too," Reynolds said. "Today we also struggled with that a little bit. I feel like coming back from the half, in the third and fourth quarter we really focused on rebounding. I think when we started getting offensive rebounds, started getting offensive stick-backs and it really helped the finishing at the basket, so we got more confidence and started finishing better."

Jackson’s Blake Reynolds shoots against Kennett during the third quarter of their semifinal game Thursday at the SEMO Conference Tournament in Sikeston, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

After giving up eight second-chance opportunities in the first half -- three of which led to baskets for Kennett -- Jackson gave up just three of those chances in the second half, only one of which Kennett turned into points.

"I don't know if they out-rebounded us, but they got a lot of second shots in the first half," Scott said. "In that third quarter we did a much better job of cleaning up the boards. We weren't just waiting for one of our bigs to get a rebound. We had our 2, 3 and our 1 man going after some rebounds also."

Jackson will face Notre Dame for the tournament title at 8:30 p.m. tonight.

"It's going to be loud," Reynolds said. "We're just going to have to be tough defensively, and being strong with the ball is a big thing when you're playing Notre Dame. We've struggled in the past taking care of the basketball, and they really feed off turnovers and they get the crowd into it. We can't let them get the crowd into it. We've just got to stay ahead of them, jump out early."

The matchup of the Jackson guards against Notre Dame's defensive pressure will likely be key in determining the game's result.

"I'm sure it'll be a great game," Scott said. "They're going to do what they do with their pressure. They're a really good team. Quinn Poythress has improved quite a bit. They've got all those kids who played as sophomores last year, and then they've got some other kids that didn't play that are helping them. They're a really good team, so we're going to have to come in -- hopefully sleep well tonight, get a good game plan together and come in and play."

Kennett 14 11 7 12 -- 44

Jackson 11 22 26 10 -- 69

KENNETT (44) -- Rantrell Caruthers 9, Akeem Nelson 6, Landon Vaughan 5, Kevonte Mitchell 14, Andre Oliver 7, Materion Jones 3. FG 16, FT 11-15, F 13. (3-pointers: Caruthers 3, Vaughan 1, Mitchell 1, Oliver 1. Fouled out: none)

JACKSON (69) -- Josh Daume 5, Josh Friess 2, Braden Wendel 17, Calvin Lysell 2, Karson King 17, Connor Shepard 1, Blake Reynolds 19, Brandon Lueders 6. FG 28, FT 8-9, F 15. (3-pointers: Daume 1, Wendel 3, King 1. Fouled out: none)