The Kennedale Wildcats lost only their second game of the season last week when they dropped a semifinal game to Decatur 60-55 in the Whataburger Holiday Tournament. {{more: continue …}}The Cats did bounced back to overwhelm 3A #4 Bowie 94-62 to take 3rd place in the 61st Whataburger Blue Division ? small school.
Earlier in the tournament Kennedale defeated 1A #2 Nazareth 70-43 and 4A #25 Seminole 81-49 before running into an aggressive 4A Decatur Eagles team. A passive Wildcat team had their pockets picked in the first three quarters of the semifinal game with Decatur. It was only in the 4th that the Cats played their game, forcing turnovers and cutting the lead to two points late in the game. It was too late as the Eagles held on to win by 5. Decatur defeated Argyle 50-47 on Saturday to earn their first Whataburger Championship title.?
As a result, Decatur (20-2) replaced Kennedale (20-2) at #6 while Kennedale dropped one place to #7 in this week?s Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) Class 4A poll. Dunbar (7-11) comes in at #8 followed by Argyle (15-6) at #9 and then Lubbock Estacado (9-8). The top five are #1 Wilmer Hutchins (16-3), #2 Oak Clift Faith Family (17-6), #3 Silsbee (11-6), #4 Yates (8-3) and #5 Dallas Carter (13-5).
Game story ? semifinal Decatur …
After winning easily in the first two game of the Whataburger Classic, a tournament that the Cats have won twice over the years, Kennedale met its match in a hot Decatur team. Decatur had lost only 2 games this season and had cut its teeth on playing mostly 5A teams in early season play. Contesting every shot, Decatur put pressure on Kennedale at every turn, playing a game the Kennedale usually plays. Kennedale allowed Decatur to take an early 7 point lead before jumping into the game. Decatur would never lose the lead.?
The first quarter ended with the Eagles up 18-12. The second quarter Kennedale almost matched Decatur in scoring 12-11 but saw the lead stretch to 30-23. In the third, Decatur went up by 18 points over a struggling Wildcat team, 51-33. But Kennedale is too good of a team to go down without a fight and the 4th belonged to them outscoring the Eagles 22-9 and cutting the lead late in the game to just a couple of points. However, it is hard to sustain that kind of charge for a full quarter after playing three, so it was the Eagles who prevailed in the end 60-55.
Battle for third ? Bowie vs Kennedale …??
Senior Trey Poe had 32 points against Bowie and was named to the All-Tournament team at the
Whataburger Classic in December. (photo: KHS)
Whereas Decatur took the game to Kennedale, Bowie stayed back to defend their goal fearing the game of Wildcat seniors Trey Jones and Jayden Smith, leaving open the outside perimeter … much to their mistake.??
Stepping in from the wings was #10 Trey Poe, a senior guard who couldn?t miss in the first half of play. Poe went four for four on 3 pointers while scoring 25 points in the first half and finishing with 32 points for the game. Even when he lobbed one in from the sidelines that was meant to be an alley-oop for Jones or Smith underneath the basket, the ball swished the net. Kennedale finished the game with nine from outside the line. Poe was named to the Whataburger All-Tournament team for his efforts.
Bowie did fight back early in the game after allowing Kennedale to open a big lead in the first quarter and finished just 2 points behind at 23-21. It was all Kennedale after that with the Cats opening up a 54-36 lead at halftime. Besides Poe?s 25 points at the end of two periods, Trey Jones had 8 along with Jayden Smith with 8 (connecting on two 3?s), while Jamal Marshall used his size to bulldozed 6 points down the middle and Jamal Jones finesse his way to the basket for another 6. In the 2nd quarter, Bowie was denied the basket 8 times out of 15 trips, Kennedale only twice.?
The third quarter proved to be the worst for Bowie as Kennedale went on a 10-0 run to open the quarter and then stretched the lead to 25 points, 73-48. That was repeated in the 4th with Kennedale scoring 21 points to 12 for Bowie and winning the game 94-62.
For the game, unofficially, Trey Poe had 32 points with 19 for Trey Jones, 14 for Jaden Smith, 9 for Jamal Downes, 8 for Jamal Marshall, 3 for James Cain, 3 for Allen Hodges, 2 for Scott Whorley, 2 for Blake Taylor and 2 for Jaylen Nichols.?#7 Kennedale Wildcats vs #8 Dunbar Wildcats …?
The Wildcats now return to district play beginning with #8 Dunbar. It has been awhile since Kennedale has played in a basketball district with another ranked team. Both teams are currently 1-0 in the six district team with Kennedale defeating Lake Worth 65-29 and Dunbar winning over Benbrook 97-80. Tonight?s game against Dunbar will be played at Fort Worth ISD Wilkerson Greines beginning at 8PM.
