The Kewanee Boilers opened up a 17-point halftime lead Friday night at home against TRAC-East foe Bureau Valley, but the Storm fought back to within two points midway through the fourth quarter at 58-56.
Kewanee made just enough key plays and free throws down the stretch to pull out the 68-59 win.
“We knew from scouting Bureau Valley that they were a physical, aggressive team that has zero quit in their game,” noted Kewanee Coach Matt Clark.
The first eight minutes featured several lead changes and ties as both teams sized each other up throughout the first quarter. Blake Erickson banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Storm the 9-5 lead. A couple minutes later, Kewanee’s Catrelle Reed found Junior Murray cutting to the basket for a bank in shot to tie the game at 13.
In the closing minutes of the quarter, Bureau Valley point guard Corbin Chhim made an up and under shot in the lane and connected on a pair of free throws to put the Storm back on top, 17-16. Kewanee point guard Blaise Lewis answered with a driving floater in the lane to give the Boilers the 18-17 heading into the second quarter.
Braden Clark went 4 of 5 at the line and had eight first quarter points and Chhim led BV with six.
“The first quarter it seemed like we struggled to match their physicality and struggled limiting them to one shot on defense and getting into our offensive sets,” said Matt Clark.
The Boilers started to find their groove in the second quarter. When Clark drew double the attention on defense he started finding his teammates open on the wings. On consecutive plays, Jordan, Reed and Lewis all drained threes to open up a 31-20 Kewanee lead. Clark then had a steal and drove it in for a layup at 33-20 to prompt a BV timeout.
A rebound bucket by Blake Johnston and another layup by Clark closed out the half with a Kewanee lead of 37-20.
“The second quarter was a complete quarter at both ends for us. Outscoring them 19-3 ended up being the difference in the game,” said Clark.
Kewanee put up 16 third-quarter points, but the wheels started to come off, defensively, as the Boilers gave up 24 in the topsy-turvy third frame.
Kewanee executed well in the opening minutes of the second half by making a few interior shots. Clark had a hand in three consecutive plays. He found Johnston underneath for two, made a rebound bucket and Colson Welgat found him under the basket on an out of bounds play to open up a big 49-30 lead.
Bureau Valley then went to work and made 14 points in the second half of the quarter.
Elijah Endress zeroed in on a three and Brock Foster made two treys to close the gap at 51-40. Endress then found Landon Hulsing underneath for two and Endress hit a baseline jumper to bring BV closer at 51-44.
Clark closed out the quarter by driving in and making a spin move to give Kewanee a 53-44 advantage after three quarters of play.
“The third quarter was a complete letdown,” said Clark. “Most everything we talked about at halftime wasn’t executed and we gave up 24 points, defensively, and took too many rushed shots offensively. We have to do a better job controlling the game and executing with a lead,” he added.
Corban Chhim came up big for BV in the fourth quarter. He completed a 4-point play to pull within three at 53-50 and went 4-5 at the line, but the Boilers countered with the strong play of Clark and Reed in the closing minutes.
Clark got a rebound and kicked it out to Reed for a 3-pointer to give Kewanee the 62-56 lead. The Boilers hit 8 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to close out the 68-59 win.
Matt Clark harkened back to his teams’ play in the second quarter on what he’d like to see more of going forward. “We were connected as a team, defensively, and it caused problems for Bureau Valley in the full court and half. My job is to get us to play at or near that level more. I think we are getting closer and hopefully we can continue to build off of positive quarters like tonight’s.”
Clark was pleased with Braden’s effort and some key plays made by Reed, including his final 3-pointer of the game. Clark led all scorers with 30 points, while Reed followed with 15, Johnston had eight points in the paint and Lewis added seven in the win.
Chhim topped the Storm with 18 points, Hulsing had 12, Endress 11, Foster added eight and Erickson chipped in with seven.
The Boilers are now 10-5 on the season and 2-0 in TRAC-East play, while Bureau Valley is 9-7 and 2-1 in the conference.
