Kirkwood uses hot shooting to down Mehlville

Forcing seven turnovers by your opponent in the first quarter is usually a pretty good way of ensuring a decent start. Not missing a shot until midway through the second quarter almost guarantees it.

Kirkwood made their first 10 shots from the field and forced Mehlville into seven first-quarter turnovers to open a big lead en route to a 63-55 win at Mehlville Tuesday night.

The Pioneers opened up leads of 18-4 in the first quarter and 27-10 midway through the second quarter thanks to several easy layups and short shots, all of which went in until the team finally missed on their 11^th shot from the field with 4:29 remaining in the second quarter.

Mehlville (4-7) made things worse by committing seven turnovers in the opening eight minutes and starting just 3-for-11 from the field.  Kirkwood (5-5) allowed the Panthers to cut the lead to six early in the third quarter but followed with a 16-2 run to take control of the game down the stretch.

"I thought our defense keyed our offense and I thought we really got after it defensively and trapped and pressured and it led to easy baskets for us," Kirkwood coach Bill Gunn said.  "And that's the way we like to play. We just like to keep it going for four quarters.

"Part of being a little young is I think they don't keep the edge the whole time. I think when you let up, you let up defensively and when you do that, Mehlville is a good basketball team, so once they cut it to six I think we refocused and started defending again and then I think we stretched it back out."

Senior Stefan Moore led Kirkwood with 16 points, nine of which came in the second half. Evan Booker added 10 points, Myles Artis had eight and Clark Randall had seven for the Pioneers, who finished a sizzling 55 percent (18-for-33) from the field.

The game was marred by 25 fouls in the first half which led to 27 free throw attempts. Four Mehlville players had three fouls at the break and two Kirkwood players had two fouls each. Two Panthers and one Pioneer ended up fouling out in the second half in a game that saw 41 fouls.

The two teams also combined for 27 turnovers in the first half and 45 for the game in their first game back after an extended holiday break.

Mehlville was lead by senior Gizzle Uzendu, who came off the bench to score 15 points. Eldin Dilberovic and Brendan Merz each had 10 points for the Panthers, who made five of seven shots to trail 36-25 at halftime.

Despite the lopsided score in the first half, Mehlville used an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to pull to within six points at 41-35. But Kirkwood followed with a 16-2 run over the final few minutes of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth to open up a commanding 58-38 lead with 3:32 to play.

"We were trying to jump ball screens and got lost defensively and weren't communicating and talking about our rotations," Mehlville coach Andy Guethle said. "We didn't communicate and we played a bad first quarter and then we played with them for two quarters and cut it to five in the third. At least we didn't quit, which was nice."

The 5-foot-11 Moore put Kirkwood up 41-27 with a steal and layup with 5:47 remaining in the third quarter. Mehlville followed with eight-straight points to make it a six point game before the senior guard fueled the knockout punch in the fourth quarter.

Moore's 3-pointer made it 49-36 early in the fourth before back-to-back layups made it 62-46 with 1:30 left to play.

"We've been trying to get him to step up a little bit, because he's very capable," Gunn said. "As a point guard he's been worried about getting everybody else involved and we've tried to look for him a little more and he did a good job with that tonight."

A moment of silence was held prior to the game for former Mehlville principal Ronald L. Jones, who passed away on Dec. 21. The gymnasium at Mehlville is named after Jones, who spent 30 years as an employee at Mehlville Senior High School. He spent 11 years as head principal, the longest run in school history.

Kirkwood will look to continue their winning ways when they host Parkway Central on Friday.