NMCC, Portageville advance

MALDEN -- The NMCC Eagles ended the Kennett Indians' season on Monday night with a 63-59 win in Class 3, District 1 action.

The win gives the Eagles the right to take on top-seeded Twin Rivers Thursday night in the district semifinals.

The two teams played even in the first quarter of the game. For Kennett, four players got into the scoring column to produce 13 points. NMCC's Michael Rose collected half of his game-high 24 points in that opening frame. The Eagles led 16-13 after one.

"I thought our kids played really great tonight," said NMCC head coach David Fields. "For three-plus quarters, we played as good as we could play. Kennett has gotten so much better, it's just hard to beat a team like Kennett three times in one season. I'm really proud of our kids."

The Indians continued to hang around in the second quarter with balanced scoring again, cutting the lead to a mere two points at intermission. The score at the half was 32-30 in favor of NMCC.

The third period proved to be the most productive of the contest for NMCC, and was Kennett's undoing. Six players scored and they built a 52-40 lead to begin the final quarter.

Kennett outscored the Eagles 19 to 11 in the final quarter to make the final score closer than the game actually was.

Brian Mitchell was top scorer for the Indians with 17, Tyree Goolsby added 13 and Cody Robinson collected 10.

NMCC will take on Twin Rivers on Thursday at 6:00 at Malden.

The Doniphan Dons and the Caruthersville Tigers lit up the scoreboard Monday night in Class 3 District 1 play. Doniphan got the better of the Tigers in overtime, 96-93.

The win by Doniphan pits them against the Portageville Bulldogs on Thursday night as boys district play continues.

Doniphan maintained a lead through most of the first half on balanced scoring from all five of its starters. Danny Kellas tallied 10 of his game-high 23 points in the opening stanza and the Dons led 27-23 after one.

The second period also belonged to the Dons as they extended their lead to seven at 48-41 at the half.

The Tigers clawed back after intermission and outscored the Dons 22-16 to cut the lead to a single point at 64-63 heading into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter was marked by good ball movement by the Tigers when they scored 21 points including the game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds on the clock by Chris Springer. The Dons countered with another excellent showing from the charity stripe, canning all eleven of their attempts to knot the score at 84 at the end of regulation.

Doniphan managed three trifectas in overtime to clinch the win while holding Caruthersville to nine points.

Despite a less than stellar offensive performance Monday night, the Portageville Bulldogs defeated the Malden Greenwave 54-44 to advance to the semifinal round in Class 3, District 1 play. The Bulldogs will take on Doniphan at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Portageville kept the defensive pressure on Malden for the first period and led by a 16-8 count. Danny Scherer collected two 3-pointers in the early going to spark the Bulldog offense.

In the second stanza, Portageville's basket seemed to have a lid on it as they could muster only six points. Malden garnered nine and trailed the Bulldogs by a 22-17 score at intermission.

Willie Hassell enjoyed a good third quarter for Portageville when he scored 10 points including two 3-pointers, and helped the 'Dogs to a 41-27 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

"I thought we played good defensively, we held them down point-wise, but the ball wouldn't consistently find the bottom of the net," said Portageville head coach Jim Bidwell. "We missed some easy buckets and started missing our free throws that we normally hit. When you don't shoot well, the game is going to be close. Fortunately, the difference in this game is that our defense stayed steady."

Portageville's inability to hit free throws in the final frame made the game less comfortable than it should have been. They managed to hit only 5-of-14 down the stretch.

Aaron Bidewell led the Bulldog offense with 18 points, Willie Hassell scored 14 and Danny Scherer added 10.

Malden had nine players to score, none reached double digits.