Kernel boys beat Rapid City Stevens 51-46

Tom Young is seeing progression in his team, and the proof is showing up in the win column.

After opening the year with three straight conference losses, Mitchell completed a sweep of the Rapid City schools over the weekend. The Kernels defeated Rapid City Stevens 51-45 Saturday in a nonconference boys’ high school basketball game at the Corn Palace.

Mitchell (2-3) is on its first winning streak of the young season.

“Each game we’re getting better,” said Young, Mitchell’s first-year head coach who picked up his first win at the Class AA level Friday, beating Rapid City Central. “The biggest thing for this whole week in general is I’ve been very happy with our effort on the floor.

“We’re making some inexperienced mistakes, and I can look past that, because we don’t have that experience.”

When Josh Schmidt hit a 3-pointer with 1:13 left in the third quarter for his lone bucket of the game, he gave the Kernels a 12-point lead and a nice cushion headed into the final eight minutes.

Stevens got within 40-33 about one minute into the fourth, and Mitchell didn’t record a field goal until Seth Cavanaugh knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:52 left. By that time, Stevens pulled within six points.

Cavanaugh’s shot that came about two steps behind the three-point line put Mitchell up 46-37, but Stevens rallied and got a three-point play from Brett Bennett that stemmed from a steal with 57 seconds left to get within 48-45.

That was the last shot Stevens made, and the Kernels got two clutch free throws with 22 seconds left by Beau Brown for a five-point advantage.

“In the fourth quarter, we had a 10-point lead and we didn’t want to come down and crank up threes,” said Young, whose team knocked down 6 of 17 long-range shots in the game. “We tried to be a little more controlled and they won a couple possessions and we made a couple mistakes. We still were able to hit free throws at the end and get key rebounds.”

Brown, who hit five of nine free throws in the fourth quarter, led Mitchell in scoring with 17 points. Cavanaugh had 16 points and seven rebounds and Jared Schmidt had nine points and eight rebounds.

Mitchell outscored Stevens in each of the first, second and third quarters. The Kernels used an up-tempo offense and knocked down plenty of jumpers en route to their big third-quarter lead.

The biggest lead Stevens held was five at the 2:32 mark of the first quarter. But Cavanaugh and Brown hit 3-pointers to end the quarter, and the Kernels never trailed again.

“Mitchell really shot the ball well,” Stevens coach Derris Buus said. “They’re going to be a tough matchup for teams, just for the fact that they play a lot of guards. They all can shoot the ball.”

Stevens was led by Bennett’s 12 points and five rebounds, but not other player on the team was in double-scoring figures. Steven Schaeffer, Steven’s top scoring threat who was blanketed by Mitchell’s Cole Morgan and Zach Moen defensively all game — was held to seven points. Kevin Blackett had seven points and five rebounds and Jacob Vifguain had eight points.

Mitchell won the rebounding battle 31-28, its first time it led in boards in all of its games this season. The Kernels shot 44 percent from the field and had only five turnovers.

Stevens (1-3) shot 32 percent from the field and committed 10 turnovers.

“I thought we would be able to defend (Mitchell) better than we did,” Buus said. “They did what they needed to at the end, knocked down shots and pulled it out.”

MITCHELL 51,

RAPID CITY STEVENS 45

MHS (2-3, 0-3 ESD)

Cole Morgan 1-5 0-0 2, Jared Schmidt 3-6 2-4 9, Zach Moen 2-3 0-0 4, Seth Cavanaugh 6-14 2-2 16, Beau Brown 5-11 5-9 17, Derek Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Mastel 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Schmidt 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 18-41 9-15 51.

RCS (1-3)

Steven Schaeffer 3-6 1-2 7, Jacob Vifquain 3-8 0-0 8, Matt Wilson 2-8 1-2 5, Brett Bennett 4-15 2-2 12, Ben Sorenson 0-1 1-2 1, Matt Minnick 0-1 0-0 0, Sam McCloud 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Simons 1-2 0-0 3, Kevin Blackett 2-3 3-6 7. Totals: 15-46 8-14 43.

MHS 15 27 40 51

RCSHS 14 21 30 45

3-Point goals: MHS 6-17 (Cavanaugh 2, Brown 2, Schmidt 1), RCS 5-20 (Vifguain 2, Bennett 2, Simons 1). Rebounds: MHS 31 (Ja. Schmidt 8), RCS 28 (Bennett 6). Assists: MHS 9 (Brown 4), RCS 4 (Bennett 2). Turnovers: MHS 5, RCS 10. Total Fouls: MHS 13, RCS 19. Technical fouls: None.

JV: Stevens 64-56; Mitchell’s Ethan Jones had 16 points and Derek Miller and Neil Schlimgen each had 12 points. Ryker Kreutzfeldt had five rebounds and seven points.

Sophomores: Jaron Weich had 17 points and Ben Miller had 14 points. Kanin Nelson had four rebounds and seven points.

Tags: sports, updates, basketball, kernels