Historic Kingsville Tigers Basketball Season Ends With State Fourth-Place Finish

 

The Kingsville boys basketball team finished out this history-making Tiger season by playing in the Class 1 2026 MSHSAA Basketball Show-Me Showdown Third-Place game against Faith Christian Academy with the Knights recording a win by the final score of 64-37 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia Saturday, March 14.

Earning a spot in the final four teams of the Show-Me Showdown, and playing in the third-place game to capture Kingsville’s first-ever state tournament trophy put a final highlight on the Tigers’ season which included a repeat district championship performance, a state sectional win that marked Kingsville boys basketball coach Bill Adams’ 100th career head coaching win, and Kingsville’s first-ever state quarterfinal win to advance to the final four in Columbia.

The third-place game also marked the final game for Kingsville’s senior, four-year varsity players Christian Stevenson, Chase Stout, and John Fleeman who end their four-year stint on the team with a career record of 81-33.

“Obviously, this game didn’t go how we wanted it to go,” said coach Adams during a MSHSAA postgame press conference that included Stevenson, Stout, and Fleeman. “No one wants to end, you know, losing your last two games when you come down here. It’s a great experience to be here, but everyone wants to be not fourth place.

“It takes nothing away from the fact that I’m really proud of these seniors and what they’ve done for the last four years, and the leadership they’ve given the younger players, the effort they’ve given, the time they’ve put in. Extremely proud of them. I’m happy for them they got to be here and experience this because we were just talking, approximately 45 kids, ballpark, in the state in Class 1 that are here out of over 1,000 kids. So, I’m very happy for all our kids, but especially these guys, that they got to be here and do this and have it for a lifetime of memories.”

In the third-place game against the Knights who had taken a win over the Tigers in Kingsville during the regular season, Stevenson converted a steal into a field goal for the first points of the game.

A field goal by Fleeman maintained an early two-point lead with the score at 4-2 before Faith Christian went on a 15-2 run which was interrupted by a late-quarter field goal from Stevenson on an assist from Fleeman.

With FCA leading 17-6 at the start of the second quarter, the Tigers remained within striking distance of the Knights on a second-quarter opening basket from Stevenson and a put-back by Stout on an offensive rebound.

Stout’s bucket left Kingsville’s deficit at 10 points with the score at 20-10.

Following a three-pointer from FCA, Fleeman dropped in a bucket before Tiger sophomore Tanner Ratajczyk added a basket for Kingsville’s final points of the first half.
The two teams headed into the halftime locker room with FCA leading 28-16.

“They’re good,” noted coach Adams in regard to FCA. “They’re balanced. They’re longer and stronger than us at every position, but one. We’re good players. They’re good players. They did more good things today than we did, and anything we did defensively didn’t work, and they were able to get the 50-50 balls.”

When FCA threatened to spread the lead with four points to open the third quarter, Stout answered with a two-pointer. Fleeman then knocked down a shot from beyond the arc to put the score at 32-21, and to keep Kingsville within nine points of the Knights.

FCA moved the margin to a 44-31 by the end of the third quarter as Kingsville found scoring contributions on three points from Stevenson and seven points from Fleeman in the final minutes of the frame.

The opening stretch of the fourth quarter included a 13-point run by FCA with a basket from Stevenson coming early during that stretch.

A dunk from Fleeman and a two-point field goal from Tiger junior guard Gavin Mullins represented Kingsville’s final points of the state third-place game before FCA closed out the contest with seven straight points to set the final score.

During the regular season, Fleeman established a new Kingsville school record for career points scored. Fleeman added 18 points to his total versus Faith Christian Academy to finish with a final career total of 2,217 points. Fleeman also contributed 2 assists and 1 block in the game.

After playing in the Saturday morning third-place game and collecting the fourth-place state trophy to add to Kingsville’s trophy case, Fleeman commented on the game and the Tiger team during the postgame press conference which marked the conclusion of the season in which he had his sights on high goals.

“I looked to be here, and I looked to be on top of the four o’clock game today,” said Fleeman. “Overall, we got here. We grew each year as individuals and as a team and as young men, so you can’t really ask for a whole lot more than that. And the community got to experience it. Like I said yesterday, I mean, I feel like in practice I try to put myself in these positions, put everyone in these kind of positions every day with the way I play. I feel like everyone just grew. I think that’s probably the best thing for all of us.”

Fleeman tipped his cap to his fellow seniors whom he joined his freshman year at Kingsville, and the effort they put in on the court over the years.

“They mean a lot,” said Fleeman. “I mean, I know I can’t do it by myself. They mean a lot just because as a freshman, I mean, you start off and you don’t really know where you’re headed. You just know where you want to be, and I mean, for awhile, it was just me before and after practice. I think I led by example in some ways, and also, we all grew. I mean, the workouts weren’t by myself. It was me and Chase, me and Christian, or all of us. Sometimes by themselves, too, and I think that’s one of the reasons why we got here is the extra time, the extra work that others aren’t willing to put in, and we needed to put in to get here, because coming after last year, we obviously weren’t good enough to get here. I think the stuff over the summer, just the extra stuff meant it all for all of us and the reason we got here.”

Stevenson finished the game with 9 points, 5 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block.

“It’s a dream,” said Stevenson. “It’s something you always like, you know, middle school you start thinking about stuff like that. It’s a dream just to have that kind of success. We’ve all been playing together since we were somewhat young, so I think that helps a lot. I mean, it’s not the way you want to go out, but if you’re going to go out your senior year, you want to make it to state. It’s definitely good and bad, I guess you could say.”

Stout scored six points in the third-place game to go with 2 assists as he played on his birthday and collected a state trophy gift.

“I’d say I’m just proud to play alongside these two guys, in particular, along with the teams that we’ve had,” said Stout at the postgame press conference table. “It’s been an awesome journey to be able to play with Christian over here since second grade, first grade. When John got here, to be able to learn so much more with his knowledge, it’s been truly a blessing knowing that he helped us and he was the main reason we got here. Without him, it wouldn’t be possible.”

As noted, the Tiger trio of seniors accumulated a four-year record of 81-33 as they collected multiple regular-season tournament titles, and played with teammates over the years who helped the Kingsville basketball team to winnings seasons in that stretch.

“At our last home game, the PA announcer (Dustin Stout) said this is the best four-year run in school history, and they’re a huge part of this,” said coach Adams. “I mean, we’re looking at over 3,000 points sitting here, we’re looking at probably 1,800 rebounds, we’re probably looking at 450 assists. I mean, that’s a lot. That’s a lot that’s leaving the…

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