Results and story courtesy of Kewanee High School Athletics Department, Coach Matt Clark…
Kewanee High vs Farmington High School
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Game Time: 5:30pm
Location: Kewanee High – Brockman Gym
Final Score:
Farmington – 41
Kewanee – 37
Boilermakers fall short, Clark reaches career milestone
Kewanee High hosted the Farmers from Farmington in a Saturday night matchup inside Brockman Gym. The Boilers were looking to build off their Friday night victory over Monmouth-Roseville that evened up their season record at 10-10, while the Farmers entered the contest at 18-8 and victorious in 4 of their last 5 games. Kewanee looked to start faster than Friday night when they struggled early to find consistency at both ends of the court.
In front of a nice Saturday night crowd, the Boilermakers would begin the first quarter with strong half court defense to limit clean looks from Farmington’s perimeter players. The Farmers would use patience offensively as they worked to get their 6’6″ star player Keauntrey Barnes looks against the Boiler zone. Barnes would get to the the free throw line in the opening quarter and sink all four attempts finishing the quarter with 7 points on his way to a game-high 26. Kewanee was led early by senior Jaiden Little as he capitalized off of a couple of assists from junior Brady Clark in the opening two minutes of the game. Clark would pick up the offense to close the quarter as he scored 6 points to help the Boilers close the quarter strong and tie the game at 10 apiece.
The second quarter would provide a piece of Boilermaker Basketball history as Brady Clark would convert a driving layup to put him into the 1,000 point club. With the second quarter basket, Clark became just the 15th Boilermaker to eclipse 1,000 career points, accomplishing the mark in 63 career games. The game was stopped momentarily to present the game ball to Clark as the milestone was announced to the crowd.
Kewanee continued to use their team defense throughout the second quarter as the Farmers struggled to find any offense outside of Barnes who tallied 9 of the 11 second quarter points for Farmington. The lone remaining Farmer basket was as the halftime buzzer sounded, which was on a rebound from a deep three pointer. The Farmington player looked to still have the ball in his hand as the buzzer went off to end the half but the officials counted it giving the Farmers a 21-20 lead.
Quarter three was much like the first half as both teams used their defense to limit easy shot attempts as both teams searched for offense against the zone defenses applied by both. Kewanee would use the free throw line to keep pace by making 5-6 from the line. Sophomore Catrelle Reed, fresh off his clutch 3 pointer Friday night, would knock down 2 free throws in the quarter while senior Jaiden Little did the same. The game would enter the fourth quarter tied at 31-31 with both teams searching for where their offense was going to come from.
The final quarter would have the Boilermakers holding the Farmers to just 3 made field goals but could only muster 2 field goals of their own, both by junior Blaise Lewis who would lead the Boilers in scoring on the night with 12 points. Kewanee would close to 41-37 with just 15.8 seconds to play but a turnover on their final possession would leave them without a chance to extend the game late. Kewanee struggled most of the night to generate offense as their perimeter shooting that showed up Friday night was not there against the visiting Farmers. Rounding out the scoring column was junior Brady Clark who reached double-figures with 11 points, he was followed by Jaiden Little and Catrelle Reed who each had 6 points, while junior Will Rumbold had 2.
With the loss Kewanee falls to 10-11 overall and will be back in action Tuesday night in Brockman Gym as the St. Bede Bruins come to town. The Boilers will continue their 4 game homestand with a matchup versus Bureau Valley Friday night and then travel to Deer Creek-Mackinaw next Saturday.
