SEMO Conference: Dexter holds off pesky Kennett 55-52

Kennett High School senior guard Dyson Watkins battles with Dexter High School juniors John Sepulvado (background) and Devin Turnbo for a rebound on Monday in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Boy's Basketball Tournament at the Sikeston Field House.

Tom Davis ~ TDavis@semoball.com

SIKESTON – The Dexter High School boys basketball squad showed the ability on Monday that it could easily separate itself from Kennett in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Boys Basketball Tournament at the Sikeston Field House.

Until the Bearcats couldn’t separate themselves from the No. 9-seed Indians.

No. 8-seed Dexter (3-0) held on – eventually – for a 55-52 win to advance to face the top-seed and host Bulldogs (3-0) tonight at 7 p.m.

“We couldn’t finish them off,” veteran Dexter coach Chad Allen said. “We would get a big lead and we would just let them run back in it.”

The Bulldogs held an 18-11 margin early in the second quarter and eventually doubled Kennett’s production. However, the Indians (1-3) limited the Bearcats to a mere five points in the second period and trailed 23-20 at halftime.

“At first,” first-year Kennett coach Seth McBroom said, “I don’t think that our energy was good.”

It got there, however.

With the game tied at 29 midway through the third quarter, the Bearcats tore off on a 7-0 run, four points of which were scored by junior guard John Sepulvado. Dexter closed that period on a 12-3 run and led 41-32 early in the final quarter.

“We have to improve our defensive rebounding,” McBroom said. “We are just letting people get to where they want to easily.

“I don’t know how many second chance opportunities we gave them.”

That clean-up on the glass was done a lot by Bearcat junior forward Devin Turnbo, who scored 14 of his team-leading 20 points in the second half.

Despite that effort on the boards, Kennett methodically climbed back into the game, and with 57 seconds remaining, Indian senior guard Dyson Watson scored on an acrobatic lay-in to tie the game at 52.

“Kennett has a couple of really good shooters,” Allen said, “and then Watson is a great point guard.”

With 38 seconds on the clock, Turnbo grabbed another offensive board and put his team up 54-52 while Watson missed a couple of free throws with 21 seconds remaining.

Sepulvado added another free throw for the final margin, but not before Watson’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer just rimmed out.

“I love our guys,” McBroom said, “don’t get me wrong. Battling back like that is a sign of high character, but we have to fix some things. We are not paying attention and we are not getting the little things done.”

Sepulvado chipped in 13 points in the win while sophomore center Elijah Ibrahim (seven), senior guard Tucker Temples (six), and sophomore guard Will Guethle (six) also contributed for Dexter.

Watson scored a game-high 21 points while senior Hayden Gilmore added 13 points for Kennett.

Kennett also got six points each from junior guard Ty Jones and sophomore Antonio Flakes.

The Indians move on to play No. 7-seed Charleston (1-3), which fell 62-56 to No. 2-seed Cape Central (3-1) on Monday. That game will tip tonight at 8:30 p.m.