Tough first night for Kernels, Young

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, Tom Young’s Kernels led Brandon Valley by 10 points.

Pressure defense, rebounding and long-range shots helped the Mitchell High School boys’ basketball team kick off the season just the way it wanted to Friday night.

For three minutes, it looked as if Young’s debut would be a memorable one.

But after the Lynx controlled the second and third quarters to beat the Kernels 57-39, it was a night Young quickly wanted to move past.

“I was excited,” Young said, referring to the fast start in Eastern South Dakota Conference matchup. “But I’ve seen that in practice for two weeks. I’ve seen what the team can do, and I’ve seen where we’ve just struggled with some decision making and the turnovers.”

The quick, guard-oriented Kernels got a 3-pointer off the opening tip from Seth Cavanaugh to kick off the season. A Beau Brown jumper, a Jared Schmidt 3-pointer and a steal that turned into a layup from Cole Morgan had the Corn Palace crowd buzzing.

“It was a fun way to start,” said Morgan, who had a team-best 15 points for the Kernels. “We were hitting shots and getting stops.”

Mitchell had a 10-0 lead three minutes in, forcing Brandon Valley to call a timeout. The more-veteran Lynx were stunned, wondering what had just happened.

“We took a deep breath and all of a sudden we were down,” Brandon Valley coach Brent Deckert said.

After the hot start, Brandon Valley found ways to the basket and crept within 17-13 at the end of the first eight minutes. The Lynx shut down Mitchell’s offense in the second quarter, allowing no field goals and only one point — a free throw from forward Josh Schmidt.

Brandon Valley outscored the Kernels 14-1 in the second quarter and led 27-18 at the break.

“The first three minutes were fun,” Young said. “I thought we competed pretty well in the first half. They hit a couple big shots at the end of the first half, and we had a couple mental mistakes.”

The Lynx, who shot 49 percent from the field in the game, led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter — a period where they outscored Mitchell 24-10. Besides the fast start, one of the highlights for Mitchell was Morgan’s shooting behind the 3-point line. He was 3-of-5 from long range, including back-to-back threes midway through the third.

Mitchell outscored the Lynx 11-6 in the fourth quarter, getting 3-pointers from Morgan and Evan Mastel. But the Kernels’ 21 turnovers and lack of rebounding midway through the game was the difference. The Lynx, who were led by Chase Marso’s 20 points, controlled the boards 32-21.

“All I’m asking my guys is to give 32 minutes of a full effort, and I think we fell a little short of that,” Young said. “But what happened is over with.”

After Morgan, Cavanaugh had eight points and a team-best four rebounds for Mitchell, which shot 38 percent from the field. Brown also had four rebounds to go along with four points.

The Kernels look to rebound when they play Pierre at 7:30 p.m. today on the road.

BRANDON VALLEY 57, MITCHELL 39

Brandon Valley (1-0, 1-0 ESD)

Chase Marso 8-13 0-0 20, Nic Peterson 3-9 0-0 6, Adam Bauer 4-8 0-0 8, Jacob Adams 5-11 1-1 11, Nate Winter 1-1 0-0 2, Dominic Nealy 0-1 0-0 0, Devan West 1-1 0-0 2, Jacob Bruget 3-5 0-0 6, Cole Albertson 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Immeker 1-2 0-0 2, Kevin Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Sjoberg 0-1 0-0 0, Jon Heiberger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-53 1-1 57.

Mitchell (0-1, 0-1 ESD)

Cole Morgan 6-9 0-0 15, Jared Schmidt 2-3 0-0 5, Zach Moen 0-0 0-0 0, Seth Cavanaugh 3-13 0-0 8, Beau Brown 2-9 0-0 4, Ryker Kruezfelt 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Neil Schlimgen 0-1 0-0 0, Jon Jamison 1-1 1-2 3, Evan Mastel 1-2 0-0 3, Josh Schmidt 0-0 1-2 1, Kass Ischen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-39 2-4 39.

BVHS 13 27 51 57

MHS 17 18 28 39

3-point goals: BV 4-15 (Marso 4), MHS 7-20 (Morgan 3, Cavanaugh 2, Jared Schmidt 1). Rebounds: BV 32 (Adams 8), MHS 21 (Cavanaugh 4, Brown 4). Turnovers: BV 15, MHS 21. Total Fouls: BV 11, MHS 5. Technical fouls: None.

JV: Brandon Valley 50-36; Mitchell’s Ethan Jones and Derek Miller each had 14 points. Jon Jamison had seven rebounds.

Sophomores: Brandon Valley 58-34; Mitchell’s Tyler Houwman had nine points and Kanin Nelson had six points and six rebounds.

Freshmen: Brandon Valley 56-41; Mitchell’s Kanin Nelson had 17 points and Justin Syring had 12 points.

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