Kewanee remains in the TRAC-East title hunt after beating Bureau Valley 61-47 Friday night in Manlius. The Boilers are now 17-7 on the season and 5-2 in the conference, while Bureau Valley is even at 13-13 and 2-7 in TRAC-East play.
Kewanee took an early lead of 16-10 and increased the lead to 29-19 at halftime. Braden Clark put in 12 first half points and Blaise Lewis scored the entirety of his eight points in the first half. Elijah Endress led Bureau Valley with eight points.
“Every time we play Bureau Valley we talk about matching their effort and playing through the physical play,” said Coach Matt Clark. “Tonight I thought we did a great job staying in attack mode, offensively, against their pressure which created some easy opportunities in the lane and open, kick out threes for our shooters.”
On the receiving end of some of those kick outs in the first half was Colson Welgat who connected on two treys. Catrelle Reed and Blaise Lewis each made one.
Kewanee held steady at 46-35 after three quarters of play. The Storm attempted to make runs at the Boilers throughout the second half, but the Kewanee defense held.
Clark made 7 of 8 free throws in the third quarter and Reed made two more 3-pointers to round out his nine-point effort on the night. Endress scored five more for Bureau Valley.
Kewanee outscored The Storm 15-12 in the final quarter to seal the 61-47 win. Clark scored 13 of Kewanee’s 15 points and Corbin Chimm scored six for the Storm.
“Or defense has been steadily improving the last month which has been key to our improved overall play,” noted Clark. “We need to continue our practice effort and weight room work to stay strong down the closing stretch of the season.”
Clark was the high-scorer of the game with 32 points. Chimm scored 10 second half points to lead the Storm, while Endress and Landon Hulsing had eight apiece.
Princeton (11-12) remains the team to beat in the TRAC at 6-2 and Sterling Newman (18-9) is still a contender with a record of 5-3.
Kewanee has three TRAC games remaining on the schedule (Mendota on Tuesday, Hall on Friday and Princeton on February 13). Princeton has two conference games left. In addition to the KHS game, they play Sterling Newman on Friday.
