Charleston edges Kennett in conference battle

CHARLESTON -- Had Friday's boys basketball game between the Kennett Indians and the Charleston Bluejays lasted 34 minutes instead of 32, the Tribe might have pulled the upset.

Instead, Kennett is left wondering what might have been after a late rally came up just short in a 79-75 loss to the Bluejays in SEMO Conference action at the Charleston High School gymnasium.

"You can't win all games the same way -- we're learning that," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "Sometimes you have to just back up and take the win which ever way you can. You're not going to blow everybody out and beat them by 20 or 30 points. Sometimes you've got to win by two, three or four points. This was one of those games. We didn't want them to get the momentum at the end of the game, so we shortened the game a little bit."

The Tribe (11-6, 1-3 SEMO) trailed 55-39 after Charleston's Mike Kellum hit a basket with 2:31 left in the third quarter, but the visitors began to slowly chip away, getting the deficit under 10 points on Jad Kenney's bucket with 4:41 left in the game that made it 66-58.

Kevonte Mitchell's three-point play with 1:19 remaining cut the Kennett deficit to 69-65, but three free throws by Delfincko Bogan sandwiched around a Rantrell Caruthers field goal had the Jays up 73-67 with 49 seconds to go.

The Tribe did not give up, as Mitchell scored eight points in the game's final minute, cutting the margin to 78-75 on a 3-pointer with three seconds left. However, Tyler Craig hit a free throw with 2.7 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game and set the final score.

Mitchell had perhaps his best game of the season, scoring a game-high 35 points and collecting 26 rebounds.

Both teams were neck and neck out of the gate Friday, as Kennett took a 10-9 lead on Antavies Drake's bucket with 4:27 left in the opening period. But the Bluejays (16-5, 4-0) scored the last 10 points of the quarter -- taking a 19-10 lead on Delfincko Bogan's basket with 31 seconds to go in the frame -- and never trailed again the rest of the night.

The Tribe fought back, cutting the Charleston lead to 31-27 on Kenney's free throw with 1:59 to go in the first half, but Charleston closed out the half on a 7-0 run to lead 38-27 at the break.

Delfincko Bogan led the Bluejays with 33 points, while Shandor Webster added 14, Kellum chipped in 12 and Robert Bogan finished with 10.

Drake scored 16 points for Kennett to join Mitchell in double figures.

Notes: Charleston won the junior varsity game 59-45 behind 19 points from Jamael Nelson and 17 from Tenerrious Ewing. Jaylean Kinnon paced the Tribe with 13 points, while Marquan Nelson added 11. ... The Bluejays are scheduled to host Jackson on Tuesday, with the winner in the driver's seat to win the SEMO Conference.

KENNETT -- Kevonte Mitchell 35, Antavies Drake 16, Jad Kenney 7, Rantrell Caruthers 6, Landon Vaughan 6, Materion Jones 6. Totals: 31 9-16 75.

CHARLESTON -- Delfincko Bogan 33, Shandor Webster 14, Mike Kellum 12, Robert Bogan 10, Christian Allen 4, Kelvondre Moore 3, Timontrell Horton 2, Tyler Craig 1. Totals: 28 19-30 79. 3-pointers: Kennett 4 (Mitchell 2, Vaughan 2), Charleston 4 (D. Bogan 2, Kellum, Webster).