The #16 Kennedale Wildcats (14-4) made their way back to the final round in the annual Whataburger Basketball Tournament by defeating both Bowie and Ponder in tournament action on Tuesday. {{more}}Kennedale, the defending champion, will face Silsbee (13-4) today at 3:30 p.m. Silsbee, who is ranked #14 in Class 4A, defeated Argyle in the other semifinal match on Tuesday, 53-34.
Bowie, who is ranked #20 in Class 3A and came in with an 11-3 record, played the Wildcats even in the first half but could not find an answer to the Cats’ hot shooting in the third.
KHS senior guard, V.J Hughes, started the scoring in the quarter with a three and KHS junior guard, Brandon Conwright, bookended the quarter with his own three, building a huge lead that that Bowie could not surmount. Kennedale went on to win 58-40.
In the semifinal round on Tuesday night against Ponder, Kennedale iced the first half with three?s, nine of them while taking a 42-33 lead into halftime. For the game, 36 of Kennedale?s 78 points were from the three point range. KHS junior guard Brandon Conwright led all scorers with 26 points, 21 of them from outside the circle. .
The Ponder Lions came into the game ranked #2 in Class 3A and had knock off two other 4A teams to reach the semifinal round, beating Sanger and polishing off Mexia (10-4) who was ranked #11 in Class 4A.
Kennedale started strong in each half, jumping to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter and led 42-39 at half. At the beginning of the 3rd, Kennedale?s senior post Colton Otts, who finished the game with 9 points, made the first 6 points and that along with a Conwright?s 3 and a basket by V.J. Hughes, who had 22 points for night, put the Cats ahead by 15 points, 53-38.
The Lions, who never led in the game, fought back and cut the lead to one with 5:32 in the game (61-60). Kennedale answered with a 9-0 run fueled by 5 points from Conwright and 4 by Hughes, making the score 70-60 at the 3 minute mark. Conwright added a little icing with another three pointer at the 48 seconds mark, giving Kennedale a final score of 78-69.
Also scoring for Kennedale, was Blake Ingram with 12, Dominque Doss 5 and Darius Hammonds 3.
