Chillicothe jumped out to a 10-0 start against the Kearney Bulldogs in the first round of the Savannah Boys Basketball Tournament on Monday night. The Hornets used their size advantage in the post to race out to a 16-5 start after one quarter of play. The 2nd quarter saw Kearney go on a run to cut the deficit to single digits but Chillicothe was still leading at halftime 29-21.
Kearney limited their turnovers in the 2nd half and tied the game up at 34-34 late in the 3rd quarter, it was the first time the score had been tied since the opening tip. Chillicothe was up 38-36 going into the 4th quarter but Kearney captured their first lead of the game early in the period at 40-39. The Hornets responded with back to back triples from Kenyen Gannan and Jackson Trout to retake the lead 45-40. Kearney battled back to tie the game at 51-51 inside the final minute of regulation when James Matthew was fouled on a shot attempted, sending him to the line for 2. The senior buried both to give his team a 2 point advantage. However with 18 seconds left, the Bulldogs’ Drew Wilson was fouled on a rebound giving him a chance to tie the game back up. Wilson calmly stepped up to the line and knocked down the pair. Chillicothe got a good look at the basket in the final 10 seconds but the shot did not drop and the game went to overtime. In the extra period Kearney executed flawlessly, Wilson knocked down a big 3-point shot and the Bulldogs went 10/10 from the free throw line to salt the game away with a final score of 66-57.
The Hornets fall to 0-2 on the season and will play again at Savannah Thursday at 5:30. Matthew had a team high 19 points for the Hornets, Jaishon White finished with 14 and Soljier Allen was in double figures with 10.
Chillicothe 16 29 38 53 57
Kearney 5 21 36 53 66
Individual scoring:
Chillicothe – Matthew 19, White 14, Allen 10, Trout 7, Langsten Johnson 4, Gannan 3
Kearney – Davin Hanna 19, Drew Wilson 17, Harvey Sayon 15, Cameron Webster 8, Angelo Donze 4, Aden Sallee 3
