Clarksville, TN – Kenwood High School boys basketball team exploded out to a 10-point lead right out of the gate, January 14th, in their District 10-AAA matchup versus the Northeast High Eagles and never looked back, as the Knights came away with a 59-43 victory.
The Knights’ (15-3, 6-0 District 10-AAA) NCAA Division I signee Daniel Norl scored the first five points in the opening run, with Legree Hairston adding a three-point bucket and Jimario Rivers a basket to finish the opening salvo.
Northeast’s D’Andre Cross got the Eagles (8-10, 3-3 District 10-AAA) on the board with an old-fashioned three-point play, with 3:19 left in the open quarter.
Cross would be the only Eagle to break into double figures, finishing with 12 points.
Kenwood led by as many as 12 points, 16-4, in the opening eight minutes of play, but a three by Cross at the buzzer cut the Knights lead to nine points.
The second quarter would see Kenwood score the first four points, to build its biggest lead of the night at 13 points, 20-7, but the Eagles would try to hang around with 3s from Cross and D.J. Wright to keep the game in single digits, 22-13, with 3:56 left in the first half.
But Kenwood slowly added to its lead the rest of the opening half, leading by 14 points at intermission, 33-19.
In would be in the third quarter where the Knights would put the game away, as they outscored the Eagles 18-7 in the period – including the final 11 points over the last 2:52 of the quarter to take a 51-26 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
The final quarter would see both teams play pretty even for the first four minutes of the period, with Kenwood holding its biggest lead of the night, 59-31 with 3:42 left in the game following a three-point field goal by the Knights’ Angel Hall.
{320left]But to the credit of the Northeast Eagles they didn’t quit, in fact they went on their best run of the night by scoring the final 12 points of the game over the last 3:27 – including five from Darryl Washington and four from Caleb Rozar – to make the final margin 16 points, 59-43.
Both teams return to district play on January 17th, as Kenwood travels to west Tennessee to play Henry County High school, while Northeast will make another cross-town trip to play at Clarksville High School.
Box Score
Kenwood 59, Northeast 43
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Northeast Eagles | 7 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 43 |
| Kenwood Knights | 16 | 17 | 18 | 8 | 59 |
Northeast: D.J. Wright 7, Dre Felton 6, Jontae’ Brown 3, D’Andre Cross 12, Antonio Roger 2, Caleb Rozar 6, Jaylon Tharpe 2, Darryl Washington 5. Team totals 16 5-9 43.
Kenwood: Angel Hall 7, Matthew Norl 6, Jimario Rivers 10, Daniel Norl 14, Legree Hairston 13, Keith Dowlen 9. Team totals 22 10-12 59.
3-point field goals: Northeast 6 (Wright 1, Felton 2, Cross 2, Washington 1), Kenwood 5 (Hall 1, D. Norl 1, Hairston 2, Dowlen 1).
Records: Northeast 8-10, 3-3 District 10-AAA; Kenwood 15-3, 6-0 District 10-AAA.
