Kennedy hosted Iowa City High Friday night in a Mississippi Valley conference boys basketball game that saw the Cougars come out on top, 58-47.

Kennedy put together a pretty steady ballgame. The Cougars scored 13 in the first quarter and led by five. They scored 13 in the second quarter and led by six at halftime. They scored 14 and 16 in each quarter of the second half and won by their biggest margin of nine.

City High hung around. The Little Hawks would cut the deficit to three points and Kennedy would push it back to six. That is the way the entire game went.

“We showed some nice toughness mentally and physically tonight,” said Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana. “Every day in practice we work on the mental as well as the physical part of the game.

"We don’t grow in leaps and bounds, but day by day. As the season progresses you grow and get better.”

Kennedy used 10 players extensively in the game and nine of them ended up in the scoring column. They were led by guards Anthony Carter and Patrick Martin with 11 points apiece. Martin scored all of his points in the second half.

“It seemed like we were trading baskets with them,” said Carter. “It went back and forth, but our confidence allows us to end games strong and we won pulling away.”

Kennedy raised its records to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference.

“Coach told me the key for the game was for me to rebound and so that was my focus,” said Martin. “In the second half, I just started attacking the basket a lot more on offense.”

Kennedy’s defense was as steady as its offense. City High’s Lonnie Chester led all scores with 21 points, but no one else was in double figures for the Little Hawks.

Kennedy hosts Ames Saturday night.

CITY HIGH (47): Hein 1 2-3 5, Taylor 3 0-0 8, Craig 2 0-0 4, Chester 7 4-4 21, Perry 3 0-0 6, Forrester 0 0-0 0, Hickman 0 0-0 0, Ritter 0 0-0 0, Posivio 0 0-0 0, Rouabhi 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0-0 0, Ingram 1 0-0 3, Spears 0 0-0 0, Hall 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-7 47.

KENNEDY (58): Carter 4 3-3 11, Bardsley 1 4-4 7, Martin 4 3-4 11, Koelling 3 1-2 7, Struss 2 2-2 6, Heitland 1 0-0 2, Murdock 1 0-0 3, Holzer 3 0-0 6, Fuller 0 0-0 0, Buck 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 13-15 58.

Halftime – Kennedy 26, City High 20. 3-point goals – City High 7 (Hein 1, Taylor 2, Chester 3, Ingram 1), Kennedy 3 (Murdock 1, Buck 1, Bardsley 1).