Hounds transition into basketball with win over Staley

SAVANNAH- Maryville's run to the Class 3 State Championship in football limited the Hound boys basketball team to a single practice with their full complement of players before Monday night's season opener against Class 5 Staley in the Savannah Tournament.

Remarkably, the Hounds resembled a group that had been in the gym all month long.

Maryville shot close to 50 percent from the field, made 12-16 free throws and dominated the fourth quarter to beat Staley 59-48.

The Hounds outscored Staley 18-5 in the fourth quarter, turning a two-point deficit into a double-digit lead.

The win advances Maryville to the semifinals to play Winnetonka Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m.

"We weren't real sharp, but I thought really overall we played pretty well," said Maryville head boys basketball coach Mike Kuwitzky. "I think a lot of them have played a lot of basketball in their lives, and I think that carried over a little bit, too."

Kuwitzky dealt with this same situation in 2009 when the Hounds won the Class 2 State Championship in football.

They turned around and won the Savannah Tournament the next week, but four of the five starters on that team were non-football players.

This year's 10-man varsity roster features eight football players, four of which are starters.

Those eight traveled back from St. Louis Friday, practiced with the team on Sunday and then suited up to play. Kuwitzky said most of his football players hadn't even scrimmaged since the summer.

"We want them to focus on football," said Kuwitzky. "We didn't want them scrimmaging or anything or playing one-on-one. We were real excited about their success in football. It was awesome. We wanted to finish it and do it and we could pick it up there. We encouraged them to leave basketball alone until football was over. Maybe if they could shoot a little bit that was okay. I made sure that was all they did."

Maryville senior Tyler Kenkel, a starting a corner on the football team, was one of the eight that had to make the quick transition from football to basketball.

He scored 11 points, hit all five free throw attempts and felt the team shook off the effects of virtually no practice time pretty quickly.

"There was a little rust at the beginning, but after we got back in the flow of things, it felt really good to get back out there," said Kenkel. "I don't know if we shot too good, but we hustled out there, played good defense and hit the boards some."

Maryville (1-0) faced a 43-41 deficit entering the fourth quarter, but asserted control with an 11-0 run that took place in less than a three minute span.

It all started with Jonathan Baker's third three-point make of the night on the opening possession of the fourth quarter to give Maryville a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

A follow by Trent Nally and three-point plays from Baker and Kenkel completed the run.

"We finally picked up our defense, stopped settling for bad shots, took it to the hole and made our free throws," said Kenkel.

Staley (0-1) never came closer than seven points the rest of the way and finished with only five in the quarter.

That followed three periods in which the Falcons scored 12 or more.

For the most part, the shots they were making earlier in the game just stopped falling.

"We made an adjustment as far as getting help-side," said Kuwitzky. "It took away a little bit of their drive and dish, so they weren't able to do that as fluently. Holding them to five points was pretty good on our kids effort because they're basketball shape is not there for a lot of them."

Senior guard Treyton Burch gave the Hounds a huge lift in the second half, scoring 12 of his 17 points.

He shared the team lead in scoring with Baker who also had 17.

Baker was 3-4 from the three-point stripe and displayed perfect shooting form as always.

"He's got such good form, he's done it so much in his life, it doesn't leave you," said Kuwitzky.

Maryville's four top returning scorers from last year—Baker, Burch, Kenkel and junior Trent Nally (eight points)—combined for all but six of the team's 59 points. Jacob Cacek added four underneath.

Staley was led by sophomores Trevor Lamb with 15 points and Delone Carter with 10.

Maryville hit its first three shots in the game and took a quick 8-2 lead.

The Hounds finished the quarter up 15-12 after Staley pulled within a point on a three by Lamb.

Staley took its first lead in the game at 22-21 on a three by Jared Lloyd in the second quarter.

A coast-to-coast drive by Carter and dish to Tyler Nugent for a layup at the buzzer gave Staley a 28-26 halftime lead.

Maryville tied Staley twice in the third and went ahead twice by a point. The Falcons scored the next five points to grab their biggest lead of 43-39.

A baseline jumper by Burch began a run of 13 straight points for the Hounds.

They coasted from there to their first victory.