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Schools

Kell Moves On in 5-AAAA Tournament

Longhorns upset Douglas County with a strong second half.

The Kell Longhorns entered Saturday’s region 5-AAAA tournament game against Douglas County missing their top two scorers. The Tigers looked to run a hobbled opponent out of the building with an offensive system that scores 85 points per game. Things didn’t go according to plan.

Kell held close in the first half, scoring 29 points and happy to be in the locker room at halftime down by just one point. At the start of the second half Kell began to effectively break the Douglas County full-court press.

“We do a good job of handling pressure,” said Kell head coach Keith Whitaker. “We went with two guards and three bigs.”

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One of the “bigs” that coach Whitaker mentioned was freshman Grant Bryant. As the Longhorns continually broke the Tigers pressure, Bryant found open space under the basket to the tune of 15 points in the third quarter. He finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Douglas County kept the game within reach thanks in large part to the play of junior Richard Kelly who had six of his 22 points late in the third.

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Douglas County, led by Kelly and Vantrail Commings, made a run in the fourth quarter to cut an 8-point lead to three points. The Longhorns wouldn’t let the Tigers get any closer than that.

Senior point guard Nick Baumann controlled the fourth quarter with tremendous ball handling and a near flawless performance at the free-throw line.

“It was a big senior moment,” said Whitaker. Even with a last second 3-pointer by Douglas County, Kell held on for a 75-74 win and advanced to the next round to play Lithia Springs on Wednesday.

The Tigers go into the offseason feeling that they are on the verge of something great. With five juniors getting substantial playing time, Douglas County will come back with experience on their side.

“Our long term goal was to compete this year, bring everyone back next year and win the region,” said head coach Joby Boydstone.

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