Kennedale Wildcat Basketball moved to 8-1 after notching their first tournament championship of the season playing in the North Texas Invitational Tournament held in Sanger, Texas.
Wins in the tournament included Sanger 50-32, Whitesboro 70-63, Krum 47-40, and Decatur 58-55.
Game One …
Kennedale opened play on Thursday with a win over the tournament host, the Sanger Porcupines. It was all Kennedale throughout the game as the Cats led 16-8 in Q1, 28-15 in Q2, 39- 28, and when Kennedale kept Sanger to 4 points in Q4 and Kats scored it was game over at 50-32.
Christion Whitaker and Tyler Choice tied as point leaders for Kennedale with 10 each. Next with 8 points were Landon Brooks and Hunter Limbaugh.
Game two …
Kennedale’s second opponent was Whitesboro and it set new team records for this season. It was the most points scored by the Wildcats at 70 and it was the most scored against the Cats at 63. Early this season and against Anna, Kennedale scored 66. Decatur had scored the most against Cats with 55 points until Whitesboro.
For the game, Christion Whitaker led the team with 18 points. Tyler Choice was also in double figures at 12.
Game three …
In the semi-finals, it was the Krum Bobcats. Krum is a solid basketball team and showed why in a game that was only settled in the 4th.
Krum took the lead in Q1 but barely so at 10-8. The Cats fought back to take a one-point lead into halftime at 21-20. The Bobcats retook the lead by a point 34-33 heading into the 4th. Then the script changed dramatically in favor of the Cats. Kennedale owned the fourth, outscoring Krum 14 to 6 and taking control of the game for the 47-40 win.
Scoringwise this game was a team effort as Austin Pickett led the Cats with 10 points, followed by Rishaun Gipson with 9, Tyler Choice with 8, Christion Whitaker 7, Jordan Miller and Brelen Harris with 5 each, and Hunter Limbaugh putting in 3.
Game four …
If Kennedale Head Coach Doug Groff had much hair on his head, this game against the Decatur Indians would have made sure there was none at the end. The Cats played Decatur to a tie twice before winning in the second overtime by 58-55 and claiming the tournament title in the process.
For the win, the Cats had to come from behind after losing both the 2nd and 3rd periods to Decatur.
This was how the game played out. It was tied at the end of Q1 at 8. Decatur was up 22-20 at halftime and they increased that lead by 7 to end the 3rd period at 40-33. The 4th was good for Kennedale as they close the gap to tie the game 48.
The first overtime ended with each team scoring 6 points to make it 54-54. And finally, after Coach Groff said the magic word or something to that effect, the Cat shut down the Indians allowing them only a single point while putting up six to break the tie and earn the win at 58-55.
This was the second 3-point win in a week over Alvarado. The first one, early in the same week on Tuesday, was a home win for the Cats. While it did not go into overtime, the game was a down to the wire finish went the final whistle blew in the 46-43 win.
This game was another share the scoring effort with Tyler Choice scoring 11, Jordan Miller 10, Breylen Harris 9, Landon Brooks 7 and Rishaun Gipson 6. Also helping to ensure the win were Christion Whitaker, Austin Pickett and Tristan Lewis each contributing 5 points.
Kennedale will play again Ferris on December 14 at Ferris High School. The varsity game is at 7:30 pm.
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