Kingsville Boys Basketball Season Ends In State Sectional Round

Three days after claiming the Class 1, District 7 championship, the Kingsville boys basketball team hosted the Wheatland Mules in a Class 1, Sectional 4 state tournament game Monday, Mar. 3, with Wheatland emerging with a win by the final score of 41-38.

The Tigers’ defensive effort on the night held the high-scoring Mules well below their season scoring average as the Tigers worked to a lead late in the fourth quarter before Wheatland found an edge in the final two minutes in the contest.
“They’re really upset, they’re really disappointed, but they have nothing to hang their head about,” said Kingsville boys basketball coach Bill Adams. “It was just a close game that didn’t go our way. Again, they have nothing to be ashamed of or disappointed about.”

Wheatland opened the game on an 8-0 run before Tiger junior center John Fleeman ended the Mule spurt with a two-point field goal.

Additional buckets from Fleeman, junior guard Chase Stout, and senior guard Isaac Hawthorne put Kingsville at 10 points scored in the first quarter.

Chase Stout scored the final basket for Kingsville in the opening frame off of a steal and assist from senior guard Brady Stout before Wheatland converted a free throw attempt to set the score at 12-10 in favor of the Mules entering the second period.

“They made a couple of deep threes,” said coach Adams. “We got out of one defense and went to another defense. We changed defenses, didn’t panic, just kept trying to go inside to John. Simple math says if you’re going to cover up John with three guys, someone’s going to be open outside. Well, they covered the outside, so I think John probably had a big game inside because they’re out, everyone’s sitting outside.”

Kingsville’s adjustments on the court led to Fleeman dropping in seven points in the second period to go with a three-pointer from Brady Stout, and a made free throw from sophomore guard Gavin Mullins. Fleeman followed Mullins’ free throw make with a field goal and a dunk to give the Tigers a 5-0 run to close out scoring in the first half.

The Mules matched Kingsville’s 11 points with 11 of their own to set the halftime score at 23-21.

“They were up eight one time, 21-13,” noted coach Adams after the game.

The Tigers displayed an 8-6 scoring advantage in the third quarter with scoring contributions from Chase Stout, Fleeman, and Brady Stout.

Kingsville’s effort in the third quarter allowed the Tigers to claw even with the Mules entering the final period with the score at 29-29.

Kingsville’s momentum built in the third quarter carried into the final frame.

Following a basket by Wheatland to open the fourth quarter, Fleeman dropped in a field goal for two points before Brady Stout connected on a three-pointer to give the Tigers a 34-31 lead.

Fleeman followed Stout’s trey with another two-point basket before Wheatland answered with its own two-pointer.
A two-point basket from Fleeman returned a five-point lead to the Tigers with the score at 38-33 with just over two minutes remaining on the clock.

In a frenzy during those final two minutes, Wheatland mounted an 8-0 run to close out the game and to overcome the late Kingsville lead.

“I thought it was really key, we’re up 38-33, and we didn’t score again,” said coach Adams. ““We just made some errors. It was 38-33, and you’ve got to feel pretty good. It was about 2:20 left. I said, ‘I wish that clock said 20 seconds.’ It didn’t. It said 2:20, and that was enough time for them. We kind of struggled there a little bit. It’s not from lack of effort. It just happens when you play good teams. Sometimes things don’t go your way. They have a great program, great players, he’s a good coach, really good guy. We saw games they scored in the 70s, they scored 95 against someone, so our defensive effort, you know, they did a great job there being able to hold the fort, whatever you want to call it. We did that really well.
“It was a great season. I mean, look how full this gym was tonight. That doesn’t happen very often. They had a lot of community support. We had a lot of good wins this year against good teams.”

One of those wins occurred in the Class 1, District 7 championship game when Kingsville defeated Sacred Heart as the Tigers claimed the district title.

“That was only the third one ever here,” said coach Adams of the district title. “They have a lot to be proud of. I’m proud of them and happy they had some success, and that their hard work was rewarded.

“It’s a great season, great efforts, our seniors are just, they mean so much to all of us because of the way they put in the time and showed everyone how to go about things and play. The program turned around when they were freshmen and started coming all the time. They put in all the time, and it was just, we got better each year because they were here, and then the juniors were coming all the time. Those two classes have really kind of shouldered the load for that.”

That win over Sacred Heart in the district title game gave the Tigers the chance to play at home in front of a capacity crowd in Sears Gymnasium for the sectional game.

“It was great, both teams,” said coach Adams in regard to the crowd. “They were supportive. It was a lot of positive support for them, and I know the kids appreciate that and us as coaches. That’s a good reflection on the community when everyone’s here being positive for them and cheering them on. That’s what I talk about. If we’re going to draw people, we’ve got to win. We won, and people came.”

Player scoring totals for Kingsville in the Class 1, Sectional 4 game included Fleeman with a game-high 21 points, Brady Stout with 8 points, Chase Stout wtih 6 points, Isaac Hawthorne with 2 points, and Gavin Mullins with 1 point. Also playing in the game for Kingsville were senior Brayden Barnett and freshman Blake Utterback.

The Kingsville boys basketball team ends the seas­on with a record of 23-6.