What do you do if you are playing a team that is undefeated in district play and beating other teams by an average of 40 points? When you are Alvarado, struggling through a subpar season at 3-24, you do everything you can to disrupt the flow of the game and you practice the art of taking a charge. {{more}}That was a major part of Alvarado Coach Abbott?s game plan Tuesday night and it really did alter the game, just not the final result. Kennedale won 53-43.
The Alvarado game on Tuesday was not pretty by design. Alvarado slowed the game to a crawl and acknowledging that Kennedale was a quicker team became human roadblocks to stop Kennedale from going to the basket. It worked in the 1st and the 3rd quarter well. In Q1 Kennedale went scoreless for almost five minutes, finally scoring at the 3:09 mark on two free throws from Darious Hammond. Kennedale added another free throw by Quardraiz Wadley and a 3 point basket by Brandon Conwright for a whopping total of 6 points for the quarter. The Wildcats went 1-11 from the field (9%) and 3-6 from the line. Alvarado found their way to the basket for nine points, going 4-5 (80%).
After scoring only 6 pts in Q1, the Wildcats needed to regroup (file photo Staci Otts)
Cutting down on turnovers from 6 to 1 and with improved shooting at 10-13 (77%) in Q2, the Wildcats seemed to have modified the game to their advantage. The Cats went on a 17-7 run at the start the quarter and outscored the Indians 22-12 making the score at 28 – 21 at halftime. Hammond, Conwright and Wadley combined for 18 of those points. Meanwhile, Alvarado in the faster pace game went 5 for 13, shooting 38%.
not so fast ?.
The third quarter was a repeat of the 1st with an over-confident Wildcat team coming out cold and the Indians controlling the pace of the game again. Kennedale missed easy lay-ups and kept trying outside shots that were not falling and Alvarado was perfecting the ?flop? and the slow down. Kennedale scored 5 points in eight minutes of play going 2 for 9 (22%). Alvarado went 4-7 (57%) with another point added from the line to score 9 points. The score was still Kennedale?s advantage at 33-30.
The thing about a slowdown game, it almost always gives the impression that the game is closer than it actually is. It can be exciting for the underdogs and the Indians had a lot of believers in the stands at the beginning of the 4th. But once the Wildcats took the lead in Q2, they never were behind again. Alvarado made a valiant try and playing with alot of heart, cut the lead to 2 points late in the game. But forced into fouling situations in a desperate attempt to stop the Cats, the game plan went by the wayside as Kennedale went 8-10 from the line during the 50 seconds to win going away at 53-43.
Darious Hammond was 4-4 in the finals seconds of the game(file photo Staci Otts)
Scoring for Kennedale was Brandon Conwright (Sr) 20, Darious Hammond (Sr) 15, Quardraiz Wadley (Sr) 11, Colton Otts (Sr) 5 and Uniikye Washington (So) 2.not lost a game since December …The win by Kennedale (19-11, 7-0), who has not lost a gamein 2016, going 10-0 since January 1, sets up a district showdown with 2nd
place Midlothian Heritage (21-5, 6-1) on Friday night in the Wildcat Den at
Kennedale High School, 8 p.m.
Kennedalewon the earlier match up 80-73.
Midlothian who will play in different district next year would like
nothing better than to return the favor and beat the Wildcats on their home
court.
Kennedale who has not lost a district game in the past three year, have a chance to make it 4 in a row Friday night. Midlothian is a talented team and wants to claim a portion of the district title in their first year of play. The bragging rights are high for this final home game of the regular season.
It be will Senior Night at Kennedale on Friday.If you like what you see please consider becoming a
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