South Shelby Boys Move On To Championship Game,

 South Shelby Boys Move On To Championship Game,
Dennis Dent Sets New KCHS Career Scoring Mark

By David Sharp

A 69.4% shooting percentage from the field and Dennis Dent breaking the Knox County High School boy’s career scoring record were not enough to defeat an exceptional South Shelby team on January 7, 2009. The Cardinals tossed in 13 three point shots and went 7-8 from the free throw line for an 89-74 victory over Knox County.

The Cardinal guard corps scored most of their 50 first half points. Seven different Knox County players scored a total of 36 first half markers. The solid Knox County effort would be enough for a win most nights, but not in this South Shelby Tournament pool game.

“Matt Patterson and Kyler Moore are probably two of the best Class 3 guards in the state of Missouri. They came out on fire,” said Knox County coach Jesse Crawford.
“We changed our defense and slowed them down, but they put 89 points on the board,” said Crawford. “They can flat out stroke it from the outside. Dennis Dent had another big night. We got scoring from a plethora of places. Keenan Gillaspy had 14, Lucas Hudson had ten, and Mitchel Penn scored 17.”

“When you do that, you can start to compete with some of the best teams in the state,” said the reigning area boys’ coach of the year. “”We competed with them. If we can play at the level we did (against South Shelby), I feel like we won’t lose another game this season.”

South Shelby (5-1, ranked ninth in Missouri Boys’ Class 3) outscored the Eagles 21-19 in the third quarter and took a 71-55 lead into the fourth quarter. Dennis Dent led Knox County with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

The contest was halted when Knox County’s two time all stater broke Craig Kurth’s career scoring record that has stood since the mid 1970’s. Dennis Dent finished the game with 1368 career points and counting. In a class move by the South Shelby administration, the career milestone was recognized and the ball presented to Dennis Dent.

Knox County (4-4) sank 13 of 17 attempts from the free throw line and 25 of 36 attempts from the field. The Eagles went 4-18 from three point range. Kyler Moore scored a game high 28 South Shelby points. Matt Patterson and Marcus Milner fired in 17 Cardinal points each.

Mitchel Penn scored 17 points, collected ten rebounds and dished out four KCHS assists. Keenan Gillaspy scored 14 points with four assists. Lucas Hudson tossed in ten points with four of the Eagle’s 15 team assists.

Brett Bryant scored eight points with two steals. Brett Wilkerson scored two points along with a team leading three steals. Parker Dixson added two Eagle points.

Knox County pulled down 36 team rebounds and stole the ball 11 times. The Eagles turned the basketball over 23 times. Knox County took on Centralia for third place.