Kewanee High vs Monmouth-Roseville High School
Friday, January 27
Game Time: 7:00pm
Location: Kewanee High – Brockman Gym
Final Score:
Kewanee – 56
Monmouth-Roseville – 54
Kewanee finishes strong, Reed hits game winner
The Kewanee Boilermakers returned home for just the fourth time in the 2022-23 season as they welcomed the Titans from Monmouth-Roseville to Brockman Gym. Kewanee entered the contest at 9-10 overall after a 66-44 loss Tuesday night at number one Princeton, while the Titans brought a 13-10 record to town and off a loss of their own to Erie-Prophetstown 44-42.
Kewanee once again started slow at home in the first quarter, which has been a theme for the young Boilermakers all season on the home court. The Titans jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead which led to a timeout by Kewanee to stop the run. The Boilers were paced early on by junior Brady Clark as he quickly scored two buckets in the lane to slow the Titans early run. The first quarter spark the Boilermakers needed came from sophomore guard Catrelle Reed as he would knock down three 3 pointers to push Kewanee into the lead at the end of the opening quarter at 18-16.
Quarter two had both teams playing better at the defensive ends while struggling to find quality looks on the offensive end. Kewanee struggled to find consistency with their offense once the officiating allowed for more physical play out of the visiting Titan team. The Monmouth-Roseville gameplan seemed to be to pack the lane defensively while playing physical on the ball defense which gave the Boilers difficulty for most of the first half. With under two minutes left before half, junior Blase Lewis stepped up by knocking down two 3 pointers to extend the Boilermaker lead to 33-26 at the break. Kewanee was led in first half scoring by their trio of guards, Reed finished the half with 9 while Lewis and Clark both scored 8 to pace the Boilermakers.
The start of the second half was much like the first with the Boilermakers searching for their offense while allowing the Titans to use their physicality to produce easy opportunities to trim the halftime deficit to one midway through the third quarter. Guards Lewis and Reed would continue to keep the Boilers in the lead by hitting three more 3 pointers to keep Kewanee in the lead after three at 47-44. Heading into the final quarter Kewanee would need to find some consistency in their play at both ends of the court if they wanted to hold on for a home victory.
Kewanee would once again have lapses at the beginning of the final quarter that allowed the Titans to grab a three point lead about half way through the final eight minutes. With just under one minute to play Monmouth-Roseville grabbed a three point lead at 54-51 which led to a Boilermaker timeout. Out of the timeout Kewanee went to a spread offense to open up driving lanes for their guards. Clark, who leads the Boilers in scoring on the season, drove the middle and kicked out to Lewis in the left wing who then drove to the middle of the lane and finished a huge basket to cut the lead to 54-53. On the ensuing next Titan possession they would lose the ball in the lane and the Boilers would scramble to get control and get a timeout to gain a crucial possession with under 40 seconds remaining in the game. Kewanee would once again spread the floor as Brady Clark would break down the defense and get in the paint, as the Titans closed the lane to the basket Clark found an open Catrelle Reed on the left wing behind the 3 point arc. Reed would not hesitate as he took the shot with just under 25 seconds to play and knocked down the biggest shot of his varsity career to give the Boilermakers a 56-54 lead.
After two Monmouth-Roseville timeouts they too would get the ball inside but a foul by the Boilermakers would send the Titans to the line for two shots with 4 seconds to play. The first free throw would be missed as well as the second and a rebound by Clark would seal the victory for the Boilermakers at 56-54. With the much needed win, Kewanee improved to 10-10, and picked up their first home victory of the season with 7 of their last 8 being at home to close out the year.
Kewanee was led in scoring by Catrelle Reed with 17 points which included 5 made threes. Blaise Lewis knocked down 4 three pointers on his way to 16 points. Also reaching double figures was Brady Clark with 12 which leaves him just 7 points shy of 1,000 in his Boilermaker career through 62 games played. Post player and junior, Will Rumbold would score 5 valuable points and turn in a fine defensive effort that helped the Boilers to victory. Closing out the scoring was senior Jaiden Little with 2, sophomore Davontae Jordan had a pair of free throws while junior Blake Johnston got his first 2 of his varsity career. It was good to see Johnston contribute in the scoring column after coming off a broken leg in week 9 of the Boilermaker football season and has been working himself back into form the past two weeks with his first minutes of playing time.
The Boilermakers will be back in action Saturday as part of a quadruple header in Brockman Gym as both girls and boys basketball teams will take on the Farmington Farmers. The teams will play sophomore and varsity contests starting at 1pm with the girls sophomore game followed by the varsity girls. The sophomore boys will follow at approximately 4pm while the varsity boys will close out the day at 5:30pm against the 18-8 Farmers.
