North Kansas City rallies to beat East St. Louis in Missouri-Illinois boys basketball showdown

Samuel Dada earns MVP honors with 11 points and 17 rebounds

Author:
Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Publish date:
Dec 9, 2023 7:10 PM EST

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – North Kansas City boys basketball coach Ed Fritz watched an early lead against East St. Louis (Ill.) disappear by halftime of Saturday’s Norm Stewart Classic.

After the Flyers scorched the net for six 3-pointers in a 22-point third quarter, it wasn’t looking good for Fritz’s undefeated Hornets.

But North Kansas City got hot late, led by Jaiden Washington, and knocked down three 3’s and scored 22 points in the fourth to rally for a rousing 60-55 victory at Mizzou Arena.

“They hit all those 3’s and we just hung in there,” Fritz said. “We were down seven to start the fourth and we just kind of whittled away. Jaiden Washington gave us a great, great lift. He hit three 3’s. So it was good. I’m proud of the guys. It wasn’t a very clean game on either side, but we’re 5-0, so we’re lucky to be that.”

North Kansas City (5-0) led 14-9 after one quarter and then trailed 23-22 at halftime and 45-38 after three quarters but outscored the Flyers 22-10 in the final quarter.

Samuel Dada was named the game’s most valuable player after leading NKC with 11 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Kamron Tate had 12 points and six assists – both team highs — while Washington had 11 points (three 3-pointers) and Jake Willmann added 10 points and six rebounds.

“It’s very good for us,” Dada said. “We’ve been preparing for like two weeks now. We prepared very, very well for the game. After they hit like four 3’s it was crucial to work really hard to play good defense. Defense wins. Because we didn’t even score. We were just playing defense. Then we were running our offense. … We started boxing out and grabbing rebounds.”

North Kansas City made six of its 11 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, including three of four from 3-point range.

East St. Louis (4-2) made just four of 13 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and, after making six 3-pointers in the third quarter, missed all six attempts from beyond the arc in the fourth.

Davis Bynum led East St. Louis with 22 points, including three 3-pointers, and added seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Arlandis Brown added 10 points.