Boys Basketball: Kenwood's Season Comes to an Abrupt End at Urbana

At the start of Wednesday’s 4A North Regional semifinal between Kenwood and Urbana, Hawks coach John Cooper was “scared to death” after watching the Bluebirds jump out to a seven-point lead in the first quarter.

Urbana rallied from the early hole, connecting on eight 3-pointers in the first half as they went on to a 65-48 victory over Kenwood, ending the Bluebirds' season at 12-12.

“I think the biggest difference of the game was the second quarter,” Kenwood coach Chris Kelly said. “They dominated the second quarter and I think the rest of the game was pretty even, but they shot the ball well.”

The Bluebirds attacked the interior as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead minutes into the game. That lead was quickly erased as Chris DiScuillo nailed two 3’s, and Jude Merkel’s three from the corner put Urbana ahead 15-13 after one quarter.  

“They came out a little cold. Then came the 3’s and I think our guys were a little shell-shocked,” Kelly said.

Merkel (22 points) capped an 11-0 run with a NBA range 3-pointer early in the second quarter that put the Hawks ahead 20-13. Kenwood countered with baskets from Davonte Gilliam and Davonte Alston, which cut the lead down to 20-17.

Urbana’s Matt Lane went on a tear as the Hawks built an 18-2 run to end the half up 38-19. Lane scored 11 of his 17 points during the stretch, hitting three 3-pointers and a layup.

“At the beginning we just wanted it more,” Alston said. “I guess we got tired, stopped playing defense and they just started hitting 3’s and opened the game up.”

“In that second quarter, we really started taking good shots and we opened the game up. Guys were seeing the open man, cutting hard and making shots,” Cooper said.

Kenwood opened the third quarter with a zone defense in an effort to slow the Hawks attack, only to watch it backfire as Urbana extended its lead out to 49-25.

“We’re primarily a man (defense) team, but we showed a little 1-3-1 zone to try and get a stop,” Kelly said.

The Bluebirds became aggressive on offense in the final quarter as they trimmed Urbana’s lead down to 59-46 with 1:42 to play on a driving lay up by Alston. The margin was too much to overcome for Kenwood as Urbana withstood the late run.

“We’ve been an up-and-down team all year, and tonight they just out-competed us for 32 minutes,” Kelly said.

Alston led the way for the Bluebirds—the senior finished with a team-high 19 points. Akeem Echols added 14 points.

Despite the defeat, Kenwood took several steps forward this season, finishing with a .500 record after going 4-16 in the 2009-10 season.