Semoball

Portageville boys outlast Senath-Hornersville 69-48 in semifinal of Bootheel Conference Tournament

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Senath-Hornersville’s No. 10 Joaquin Maldonado, Portageville’s No. 4 Hunter Gates and Senath-Hornersville’s Orlando Coronado (back) in a rebound in a semifinal of the Bootheel Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Tuesday at Portageville High School.

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. - The hot streak finally ended for the Senath-Hornersville Lions varsity boys basketball team in a semifinal of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Tuesday night.

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Senath-Hornersville's Orlando Cornado looks to make a pass in a semifinal of the Bootheel Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Tuesday night at Portageville High School.

The host Portageville Bulldogs won the first half by 10 points and scored first nine points of the second half to build a comfortable 45-26 lead by the six-minute mark of the third quarter. No. 2 seeded Portageville increased its lead to 57-33 by the end of the third quarter and led by at least 21 points throughout the fourth quarter as it beat No. 6 seeded Senath-Hornersville 69-48.

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Senath-Hornersville's Jace King looks to make a pass in a semifinal of the Bootheel Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Tuesday night at Portageville High School.

“I thought our defense really stepped up in the second half, which allowed us to get out in transition and get some easy shots,” Portageville coach Jason Irby said. “We were struggling a little bit on offense until Bub Lance got out in transition and knocked down a couple shots. Credit Senath-Hornersville because they are a real scrappy bunch that has played hard and got a huge win Saturday. But our kids battled and were able to do what they needed to do tonight. We had that little run that gave us some separation and was able to protect our lead the rest of the way."

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Senath-Hornersville's Joaquin Maldonado takes a shot in a semifinal of the Bootheel Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Tuesday night at Portageville High School.

Portageville led by single digits throughout the first quarter and enjoyed a slim 18-17 advantage with 6:44 left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs followed with a 14-4 spurt to take its first double digit lead at 32-21 with 2:17 left in the first half. Senath-Hornersville managed to trim the deficit as close as 33-26 with 25 seconds left in the second quarter before Steven Guo hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to pad Portageville’s lead back to double digits at 36-26.

“I thought that was a game-changing play,” Senath-Hornersville coach Corbin Clark said. “We had a good two or three minutes and cut it down to seven going into the last possession of the half. Everyone had their assignments on defense but they had a kid hit a fadeaway 3-pointer. I feel like that shot really swung the momentum and they carried it into the second half.”

Eight players recorded at least one field goal for Portageville and five players tallied at least nine points.

Senior Daniel Carter led the way with 15 points.

Junior Bub Lance, who hit three of Portageville’s seven 3-pointers, added 13 points.

Senior Ian Torrey and junior Terry Kirkwood contributed 11 points each. Senior Hunter Bates scored nine points for Portageville.

“We’ve tried to preach to our kids they are going to have opportunities to make shots,” Irby said. “Anytime you can get a lot of kids involved everyone feels good about it. It's an added bonus that we can hopefully carry into Friday.”

Senath-Hornersville senior guard Diego Fernandez recorded a pair of field goals in every quarter. He knocked down three of his team’s five treys on his way to a game-high 20 points.

Orlando Coronado also finished in double digits for the Lions with 11 points.

"Our game plan was to really slow it down and execute,” Clark said. "We did a good job of that for about 3 1/2 quarters, but there were a couple two-minute stretches we lost control of the tempo.”

Senath-Hornersville (10-10), which had won four straight games before Tuesday’s loss, has the luxury of having a week to prepare for its next contest against arch rival Kennett. The Lions host Kennett on Feb. 6.

“It’s good to have a little time off here,” Clark said. “We’ve had a great stretch. We won four in a row and got our first win in the conference tournament in a long time. The Kennett game is a big game for people in both communities. We are excited to go play it because right now we’ve got a shot to finish the season with a winning record and as young as we are that would be a great goal for our program.”

Portageville (17-4) will host Malden in the varsity boys title game Friday at 8 p.m. Malden won the first meeting between the two squads 62-53 on Jan. 19.

“Malden has been our nemesis for awhile,” Irby said. “We haven’t beat them in quite a while so we know what we are up again. They are a good team that picked up a really good win tonight. But it’s cool anytime you get to play for a championship, especially in front of your home crowd on your home floor. It’s a great opportunity and hopefully we will take advantage of it and give it our best shot because we know Malden is really good."

No. 2 Portageville 69, No. 6 Senath-Hornersville 48

SHS 13 13 7 15 - 48

PHS 16 20 21 12 - 69

SENATH-HORNERSVILLE (48) - Jace King 4, Diego Fernandez 20, Joaquin Maldonado 7, R. Luna 1, John Ramos 3, Orlando Coronado 11. FG 18, FT 7/9, F 17. (3-pointers: Fernandez 3, Ramos 1, Orlando Coronado 1; Fouled out: None).

PORTAGEVILLE (69) - Steven Guo 5, Chris Word 3, Hunter Gates 9, Ian Torrey 11, Bub Lance 13, Daniel Carter 15, Terry Kirkwood 11, Mikel Moody 2. FG 27, FT 8/21, F 7. (3-pointers: Lance 3, Carter 2, Word 1, Guo 1; Fouled out: None).

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