Joomla Login LightBox powered by WowJoomla.com

WARRENSBURG — When Gary Belcher walked into his locker room, he was shocked to see words already scribbled on the chalkboard.

But it’s not as if Belcher was surprised by the message. Honestly, he expected nothing less from his senior- laden Kearney boys basketball team.

"If you go into that locker room right now, there’s a chalkboard, and the kids wrote on it," Belcher said. "It just says, ‘Defense wins championships.’ The coaches did not write it. They wrote it. It’s up there.

"That’s what they believe in. They know for a fact that’s why we’re here at this venue at this stage. There’s going to be nights like tonight when shots don’t go, but you can bring the defensive effort every night. It’s just an attitude and a desire, and these kids have shown through the long haul they have it."

The latest chapter came in a 54-33 lock down of Warrensburg in the Class 4 quarterfinals Saturday, March 6, at the University of Central Missouri Multipurpose Building. All the momentum swung Kearney’s way when the Tigers failed to score in the second quarter of the game. It turned an 11-10 Warrensburg lead after the first quarter into a 20-11 halftime lead for the Bulldogs.

"We got after it on defense," senior guard Tyler Funk said. "To hold them to zero in the second quarter says a lot about our defense. You look at the clock as it’s coming down before halftime and you notice they have the same score they had at the end of the first quarter, it’s pretty amazing. We just wanted to keep them there as long as possible."

Kearney (26-3) did keep them there longer. Warrensburg (19-9) went scoreless for more than nine and a half minutes and wound up mustering only one bucket during a 13-minute stretch between the middle quarters. Kearney had outscored the Tigers 23-3 since the first quarter, opening up a commanding 33-14 lead late in the third.

"They want the ball to enter the paint, either off the bounce or the pass," Belcher said. "If they can’t score there, they’ll suck your defense in, and they look to pitch the ball out. I’m not sure the ball got in the paint a whole lot in the second quarter. They settled for 3s, and that’s fine when they’re going in, but they didn’t go in for them in the second quarter."

By the time the Tigers found their shooting touch, it was way too late. Warrensburg closed to within 12 points — 39-27 — early in the fourth quarter but missed its next three free-throw attempts with a chance to creep closer.

As Belcher pointed out, the Bulldogs also had their fair share of struggles at the offensive end. Kearney connected on only 39 percent of its shots from the field, including only 43 percent of its two-point field goals, and only 48 percent (13 of 27) from the free-throw line.

Senior Nate Bitner helped pick up the slack by scoring a career-high 17 points. Senior forward Grant Cozad chipped in another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Those two players accounted for 15 of their team’s 20 first-half points.

Kearney’s inside game finally wore down the Tigers in a physical second half. Senior center Dillon Starzl controlled the paint by pulling down 19 rebounds (10 offensive) and blocking four shots. Starzl finished with 10 points, all coming in the second half when the Bulldogs put the game away.

"It was getting rough out there," Starzl said. "I just tried holding my composure. I had to fight through it. In the first half, I was trying to avoid contact, but in the second half, I was attacking the rim more."

Sports writer Chris Geinosky can be reached at 389-6654 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .