Malden picks up road win over Kennett with last minute comeback

KENNETT — The Malden Green Wave survived an onslaught of massive momentum swings and three-straight quarters of Kennett leads to claim a hard-fought 87-82 victory on the road going into the Bootheel Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

Malden’s win was more important to the team than usual after falling to New Madrid County Central in a crushing 57-78 loss on Tuesday, and they played as such.

“The biggest thing for us was we didn’t want to have two bad games in a row,” Malden head coach Mike Kilgore said. “We’re still going to make mistakes because that game is still fresh, but the biggest thing is when it matters most we have to find a way to get the job done.”

Kennett (7-11) came out with a strong start to the game and outscored Malden (14-6) 26-15 as the Green Wave struggled to establish a footing against their Dunklin County rival. As the visitors found a rhythm, however, the game became much closer.

To cap off a run of eight unanswered points, Malden’s Marcus Burton put down a one-handed dunk to tie the game and pull ahead just before Kennett’s D’Shun Wilson threw in a 3-pointer to regain control in the second quarter.

The game tied at 31-31, but before the end of the quarter Kennett went on their own streak. Two final free throws sent up by Malden’s Burton helped close the gap, though, which led to a 41-39 Kennett advantage entering halftime.

With just a single point difference in scoring between Kennett and Malden in the third quarter, Kennett’s Zy Taylor led the way for the Indians with his best of the night in scoring nine of Kennett’s 21 points. Malden’s Burton, however, put up 11 of Malden’s 20 to hang in close and set the scene for the end.

Halfway through the third quarter Malden’s Payton Woodard scored a 3-pointer that cut the Green Wave’s deficit to two points, but Kennett answered it with seven unanswered points before once again leading 62-59 entering the fourth quarter.

Burton deflected a 3-point shot attempt by Kennett’s Ashton Williams and passed to Trey Miller who scored his only points of the fourth quarter, a 3-point bucket that tied the game 79-79 with a minute and 30 seconds remaining in the game.

Kennett's Ashton Dismukes (2) charges down the court in Friday night's game against Malden at Kennett High School.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

While Kennett maintained a steady stream of 3-point attempts, and consequently several misses, a flurry of free throws, a layup by Tyronne Lee and a final rebounded layup from a missed free throw by Farmer netted the Green Wave an 87-82 win.

“This is the first time I’ve seen our guys in the locker room really hurt after a loss, and that’s a great sign,” Kennett head coach Noll Billings said. “You’re not going to fix something until you feel it, it bothers you and it hurts. They literally had it in their grasp, but they had to give it away.”

“They had to make bad decisions down the stretch,” he continued. “We had to open the window for Malden, and we did. Taking 3-pointers when you’re up with a minute to go, fouling down the stretch, it’s just not smart basketball and you can’t win games like that.”

Billings’ hope is that the team learns from the loss when they inevitably find themselves in similar scenarios.

Malden was led in scoring by Marcus Burton with 22 points, followed by Payton Woodard with 15, Quamareous Farmer with 14, Trey Miller with 12, Tyronne Lee with 11 and Cooper Thomas with nine.

D’Shun Wilson paced the Indians with 21 points, followed by Zy Taylor with 19, Ashton Dismukes with 17, Ashton Williams with 16 and Hayden Gilmore with three. Daniel Boatman, Dyson Watson and Blake Raspberry each contributed two points to Kennett’s total.

Next, Kennett hosts Cooter Tuesday with a junior varsity game beginning at 6 p.m. To preempt the Indians’ next home game, Billings has a clear message for Kennett fans.

“Thank you to the crowd,” Billings said. “Kennett, we love you and we’re going to get this thing right and we’re not going to stop working. We had a chance to bring it home for y’all and we didn’t, but we’re going to fix it.”

Malden goes straight into the Bootheel Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Green Wave will play on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., against the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Portageville and South Pemiscot.

“It’s going to be big for us,” Kilgore said. “We need to just come out and get a win. Now we know what this side feels like again, so we want to stay consistent to make sure we’re playing our best basketball from here on out.”