Champs battle in a classic overtime match-up Kennedale triumphs 97-89

KHS Wildcat Basketball team after 97-89 overtime win over Dunbar

It was not the playoffs but it had all the makings of a third or fourth round game. Both teams finished as Co-Champions of District 9-4A. Both had a win over the other. Both teams had been ranked all season and most of that as one the top ten teams in the state for Class 4A. Kennedale had defeated Dunbar 73-53 on January 1 at Wilkerson-Greines. Dunbar turned the tables at Kennedale on January 25 winning 75-66.?

one of those memorable games ?

If you didn?t travel to Arlington High School to see the game, you missed one of those memorable games. Kennedale came out firing and took an early lead and seemed to be in control this game. But neither team backed down. With bodies flying around the courts and with aching, cramping legs, the teams fought through every quarters.

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Worthy of the reputation that Dunbar has in state basketball along with the quality of current players and coaches, the D-Cats, who never once led in the game, fought back to tie the game in regulation. It was fittingly that this game had to be settled in overtime.?

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• Box Score: Q1 22-16, Q2 22-20, Q3 22-22, Q4 16-24, OT 15-7

• Q1 ? Dunbar started slow and spotted Kennedale 10 points before scoring a basket. Kennedale continued their scoring late into the quarter, stretching K-Cats lead to 17-6. Dunbar did score on 4 of their final 5 trips down the floor to end the quarter behind 6 points at 22-16. Tre Jones scored 13 of his 28 points in this quarter.?

• Q2 ? Kennedale continued their dominance through the early part of the 2nd quarter, stretching their lead to 31-16 before Dunbar got the hot hand and took control of the middle part of 2nd quarter. Dunbar was helped by hitting a trio of three?s while Kennedale had trouble finding the basket. Dunbar cut the lead to just one point with less than 2 minutes in the half. A determined Kennedale bounced back and hit their own trio of three?s to regain control of the game and pushed the lead back up to 8 for a halftime score of 44-36. In the quarter, Kennedale hit 4 from outside the circle. Blake Taylor had 2 of them for 6 points while Scott Whorley led Kennedale in the quarter with 7 points.

• Q3 ? Dunbar started out hitting its first 4 basketball and moved within 3 points of the lead at 51-48. Kennedale responded and scored 7 straight points to edge the lead back up to eight and that held to the end of the quarter at 66-58. It was Jaden Smith?s turn at the basket as he turn in 9 point for Kennedale as lead scorer in the third. Overall, it was an even game in the third as both teams scored 22 points.

• Q4 ? Like the first quarter, Dunbar started out but then begin to chip at the lead a little at a time. At 3:17 the score was 77-71 in favor of Kennedale. At 1:31 the score was 80-76 with Kennedale leading. At 53 seconds, the score was 82-78. For Kennedale starter Jaden Smith had fouled out for Kennedale along with Johnny Davis for Dunbar. Coming out of a timeout at the 53 second mark Dunbar scored 2 straight baskets to tie the game at 82. Meanwhile, a second Dunbar player went goes down with leg cramps. After another timeout, Kennedale missed a 3 point attempt. Dunbar then missed a lay-up but retained possession on an out of bounds call. The crown was standing and the noise deafening with 5.2 seconds remaining regulation play. Dunbar with possession scored on what had seemed to be the winning score but a charging foul nullified the points. The ball was not Kennedale?s but with just a second left to play, Kennedale was unable to connect on a lob down court. The game headed into overtime tied at 82-82.

• Overtime (4 mins) ? It was a quick four minutes. Kennedale scored first which put Dunbar in the role of playing catchup. Dunbar tied Kennedale twice but then went cold. During this stretch, Kennedale went up by 6 point, 94-88. After a foul call on Kennedale, Dunbar hit only one of a two-foul opportunity leaving them behind by 5 with just 23.6 seconds left. Dunbar fouls Kennedale on the next possession. Trey Poe sinks both shots and the score moves to 96-89. Dunbar then missed a 3 point shot and the rebound goes to Trey Poe who was immediately fouled. Poe hit his first free throw, missed on his second but recovered his own rebound. Kennedale was ahead 97-89 with 7.5 seconds left. And fittingly, it was Poe who took the inbound pass and tribbled out the remaining time. Kennedale won going away, 97-89.

• Scoring?- Kennedale: Tre Jones?28, Jaden Smith 18, Trey Poe 15, Scott Whorley 14, Blake Taylor 11, Jamal Downes 7, Robert Corbett 4, and Versie Hodges 2. Also seeing action in the game were Wildcats James Cain, Jamal Marshall and Wayne Landry.

• Individual Top Stats: Tre Jones (15) and Jaden Smith (16) combined for 31 rebounds. Jones also had 5 blocks, 2 steals and 5 assist while Scott Whorley added another 6 assist.

Link: UIL 4A Boys Baskeball Playoffs Region 2&4 Bracket

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