Jacob Manning and Kyle Lamaak scored 15 points apiece and Christian French added 10 to lead No. 10 Kennedy past Xavier, 60-48, Friday night (Dec. 10) in a Mississippi Valley Conference opener at Kennedy.

Kennedy (3-0, 1-0) used an intense defense and dominated the boards throughout the third quarter. The effort allowed the Cougars to double its seven-point halftime lead and take control of the game.

 “The third quarter was the key for us, that’s when we opened it up,” Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana said.  “We make it a point of emphasis to own the paint and we did that in the second half.  We also need to make sure our young guards understand offensive flow.”

Manning, Lamaak and French controlled the paint and the game for the Kennedy.

“In the second half, we played much better help defense and that helped us on offense, too,” Lamaak said.  “I do what ever we need me to do and tonight I had to crash the boards.”

“Helping each other out and hitting the boards are stressed in drills at practice and we transitioned those drills into the game tonight.” said French, who committed to play football at Oregon on Thursday.

It was Manning that created the most problem, Xavier Coach Matt Jenkins said.

“Manning was tough for us to match up with,” he said.

“They put a lot of different guys on me and they were physical, trying to keep me off the blocks, but my jump shot was working and that really helped,” Manning said.

The first half saw both team use lots of players and show streaks of inconsistency.  Four first half 3-pointers kept the game close for the Saints and they went into the break down 31-24.

“We were happy with our patience on offense and our intensity. We just had too many lapses of inconsistency.  We failed to execute at critical times in the game,” Jenkins said.

Ben McDermott lead the Saints with 10 points . Carter Valentine had eight, and Mitch McLaughlin and Mack Mattke had seven apiece.

Xavier host West Des Moines Dowling Saturday at 4 p.m.  Kennedy’s next game is Tuesday at home against Dubuque Senior.

Xavier (3-0) took Kennedy (2-1) in the sophomore game, 36-27.

XAVIER (48): Mitch McLaughlin 3 0-1 7, Ben McDermott 4 0-0 10, Kevin Hosch 2 0-1 5, Nolan Dunkirk 2 0-0 4, Carter Valentine 3 2-4 8, Brian Ropp 2 1-2 5, Alec Clasen 0 0-0 0, Ryan Mains 0 0-0 0, Mack Mattke 2 2-3 7, Peter Kokontis 1 0-0 2, Mitch St. Andrews 0 0-0 0, Tanner Frazier 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 5-11 48.

KENNEDY (60): Jacob Manning 6 3-5 15, Darius Fuller 0 0-0 0, Jacob Misener 1 2-4 4, Trevor Heitland 1 1-2 3, Herschel Dixon 0 0-0 0, Josh Jahlas 1 0-0 2, Elliott Christians 1 2-3 4, Kyle Lamaak 6 3-4 15, Josiah Coleman 3 0-0 7, Christian French 4 2-5 10, Ross Ellsworth 0 0-0 0, Antonieo Bolden 0 0-0 0, Alex Hayden 0 0-0 0, Cody Bell 0 0-0 0, Shane Goodall 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 13-23 60.

Halftime — Kennedy 31, Xavier 24. 3-point goals — Xavier 5 (McDermott 2, McLaughlin, Hosch, Mattke), Kennedy 1 (Coleman). Fouls — Xavier  21, Kennedy 15. Fouled out — Clasen, Dixon.