New Madrid County Central beats Kennett in contentious road match up

New Madrid County Central defeated Kennett 76-59 Tuesday night in a showing of offensive strength by BJ Williamson and Jadis Jones as both teams begin a grueling stretch of conference competition coming out of Christmas break.

For the Indians (5-7), the game was the an opportunity to kick off the new year by surpassing the team’s five wins it accrued last season. Now, they will have to wait and fight through the intensity of their impending schedule after Tuesday night's tense match up.

“I thought Kennett played extremely hard, and I thought Kennett played well,” New Madrid head coach Lennis McFerren said. “We just have to understand what time the game is, who's leading, and right now we're not. Basketball IQ is what we have to worry about more than anything.”

New Madrid (6-3) controlled the tempo of the first quarter with scoring driven by juniors BJ Williamson and Jadis Jones to lead 43-36 going into halftime. Combined, Jones and Williamson scored 36 points before entering the second half.

Kennett sophomore D'Shun Wilson paced the Indians in the second quarter to outscore New Madrid and maintain a close deficit by scoring 11 points on his own, including three 3-point shots outside the paint.

“Luckily, DJ got hot there in the second,” Kennett head coach Noll Billings said, “but I remember looking up and thinking, 'golly, we're not scoring.' New Madrid's good defensively. They're tall, they're long, they're strong and they rebound well. Tonight was a little better offensively, and our kids fought.”

Williamson came out hot in the third quarter, however, and started the second half off with three nearly consecutive layups and a free throw. He'd go on to score 11 points in the third quarter assisted only by Jones who contributed nine.

Still leading by fewer than 10 points entering the fourth quarter, Brayden Newson swiped up a layup to start out before McFerren called a timeout to regroup despite then being up by double digits with five minutes remaining.

Kennett freshman Ashton Dismukes attempts a 2-point shot around New Madrid County Central Tuesday night at Kennett High School.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

Kennett was forced to attempt several court-distance passes to put something together, but the majority landed in the hands of New Madrid defenders as they utilized their definite height advantage.

As seconds dwindled, New Madrid took five separate attempts at the free throw line, broken up only by a 3-point play by Kennett's Hayden Gilmore.

BJ Williamson led New Madrid County Central in scoring with 36 total points, followed by Jadis Jones with 26. Kennett was led by D'Shun Wilson with 19 points, followed by Ashton Dismukes with 10 and Will Gaines-Parker with 9.

Kennett, now 5-7, most recently took fourth place in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament last week after falling to Malden in a game for third place. New Madrid County Central, now 6-3, came out with something to prove after falling to Class 5 #2 ranked Cardinal Ritter in the Norm Stewart Classic in Columbia.

Kennett will host Jackson (8-3) Friday night while New Madrid County Central hosts Notre Dame (5-7) Thursday night.

“You want to win them all, but we know we've got Jackson coming in here Friday night and they're playing as good as anybody in the conference right now,” Billings said. “We have to gear up and be ready to go.”