Perryville boys basketball team falls to Kennett in district opener

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Heading in to a Class 4 District 1 quarterfinal against Kennett, things looked all too familiar for the Perryville boys basketball team.

Falling behind early in games has been a common theme for the Pirates this season. But after trailing by as many 10 points in the first quarter, they were in the midst of taking their first lead of the game at the start of the final period.

With 6 minutes, 48 seconds left in the fourth, Perryville's Conner Stark drove through the lane, was fouled and sent to the line to shoot a one-and-one for a chance to put the Pirates up by one. However, the junior missed the front end, eliminating the Pirates' last good chance to take the lead.

Fourth-seeded Perryville proceeded to turn the ball over eight times in the final six minutes and was upset by No. 5 Kennett 64-58 on Monday night at Sikeston High School.

"Coming down the stretch, we were pretty careless with the ball," Perryville coach Justin Dreyer said. "Made some turnovers on some key plays and missed the front end of a big one-and-one. We were down 45-44, and you know, it looks like we're getting ready to take the lead. We miss the front end and they go down and get a layup. After all we did to make this a close game and with chances to take a lead, we didn't execute in a key part of the game, which is why our season is over."

Perryville finished with 15 turnovers in the loss, which Perryville senior Luke Schlichting said had been very uncharacteristic of his team up until that point.

"That really hadn't been a problem for us all year. I guess their pressure kind of got to us," Schlichting said. "They kept with it all game and never really let up on the pressure. It sucks turning the ball over whenever we're that close, but it happens."

Perryville senior Matt Moran made his first and only shot of the game minutes before Stark's miss, when he hit a 3 with seven seconds left in the third to pull the Pirates within one heading to the fourth.

Kennett took advantage of the missed free throw and several Perryville miscues to spark an 8-4 run and pull away for good.

Eli Tripp scored the Pirates' final six points of the game, all from beyond the arc, including one with 17 seconds left that trimmed the Indians' lead to 62-58.

However, Kennett's Jad Kenny was fouled on the next possession and converted two shots from the charity stripe to secure the Indians' win.

"We knew we were in a game. They had their run towards the end of that [third] quarter, and we wanted to come out and initiate a run to begin the fourth quarter," Vaughn said. "I was really impressed with how composed we were because it didn't just go in our favor the whole time. That's easy to really like what you're doing and stop, but Perryville did a nice job of firing back on stuff we didn't do well, or making adjustments, which kind of caught us in a bind there for a bit. ... Luckily we never did surrender the lead. If we had done that, I don't know what our response would've been."

Perryville (15-11) got off to a sluggish start early on and trailed 12-2 midway through the first.

"Kennett did a good job of getting on the offensive glass. Coming into the game, we knew we had to keep them off the glass, and we did a poor job of it," Dreyer said. "In the first half, our first-shot defense was good, but they kept getting second chances and third chances. That's what got us in a hole."

The Indians had four offensive putbacks in the opening period and outrebounded the Pirates 25-18 in the game.

"I think our energy was the biggest key right there. We really sped them up, and when they did get shots, they took hurried shots," Vaughn said. "Our kids did a great job of being energized and going and collecting rebounds. Our effort from the onset was really, really good tonight."

Perryville put together an 8-4 run that cut Kennett's lead to 16-10 with 3:13 remaining in the first.

The Indians scored two more baskets in the opening quarter before the Indians scored the final six points of the first and trailed 20-16.

Despite closing out the first quarter on a high note, Perryville went cold again in the second, shooting just 5 of 14 from the field. The Pirates were outscored 13-10 and trailed 33-26 at halftime.

"At halftime, we talked about two things. We had five defensive rebounds, and we were 0 for 8 from the 3-point line," Dreyer said. "So we knew coming out that we were going to get more defensive rebounds, and we had to make sure we keyed on that. We did that and more importantly, we hit some shots."

Stark and Tripp scored a combined six points to cut Kennett's lead to 35-32 a minute into the third.

The Indians answered with a 10-5 lead to increase their lead to 44-37 before Stark and senior Collin Stief each added two points to set up Moran's 3 at the end of the third.

"We knew throughout the first half that Perryville wasn't going to be done. They were going to make adjustments," Vaughn said. "For a good portion of the second half, they dictated the tempo of the game in their favor. They were able to get good looks out of that."

Despite not being able to complete the comeback, Dreyer said the Pirates closed out the season strong, especially his four seniors, including Tripp, who scored a game-high 23 points to lead Perryville.

"He played really well for us. Knowing that he's a senior and this is the end for him, he really played like it tonight," Dreyer said about Tripp. "All of those guys did. We lose a lot of core guys, but you know, they've really laid the foundation for the direction that this program is going in, and we've got guys who will step up next year and keep it going."

Kennett 20 13 12 19 -- 64

Perryville 16 10 18 14 -- 58

KENNETT (64) -- Andre Oliver 13, Patrick Maddox 6, Landon Vaughn 6, Carlos Turner 6, Rantrell Caruthers 5, Fred Gooden 5, Eddie Wilson 2, Jackson Britt 2. FG 24, FT 13-21, F 17. (3-pointers: Oliver 1, Gooden 1, Caruthers 1. Fouled out: None.)

PERRYVILLE (58) -- Matthew Moran 3, McGwire Bartley 6, Conner Stark 8, Luke Schlichting 10, Garrett Johnson 2, Collin Steif 4, Eli Tripp 23, Ryan Noland 2. FG 22, FT 8-12, F 13. (3-pointers: Moran 1, Schlichting 1, Tripp 4. Fouled out: None.)