Stringer: Gremlins to face toughest test yet

Forget the league standings or the end-of-the-year Kaysinger Conference tournament. If there was ever a barometer to measure Sacred Heart’s chance of finally getting past sectionals — a round in which the Gremlins are 0-7 during coach Steve Goodwin’s 14-year reign in Sedalia — it would be the Slater Wildcat Classic boys basketball tournament.

No disrespect to Cole Camp or Tipton, which took the Gremlins down to the wire in Sedalia, or to the field in Sacred Heart’s own showcase, which featured the formidable and larger Grain Valley, but Sacred Heart will face a whole new level of competition starting tonight.
With their No. 2 ranking in Class 2 carrying the 13-0 Gremlins into the tournament with a No. 1 seed, the showcase includes a bevy of powerhouses.

Take 9-4 Santa Fe, which lost by just 10 to Sacred Heart in Sedalia earlier in the year and is outscoring opponents by an average of 56-47. Sounds like at least a three seed. Nope, the Chiefs are seeded fifth.

Or look to two-time defending Slater tournament champion Fayette, which enters the showcase 9-6 while outscoring opponents 66-49. Despite it all, it earned just the No. 3 seed.

Even 5-4 Pilot Grove, just two years removed from a trip to the Class 1 championship game, is seeded sixth.

And we haven’t even gotten to second-seeded Higginsville (9-2), a Class 3 powerhouse with four playoff showings this millennium, or third-seeded Glasgow, a 12-1 program ranked sixth in Class 1.

The lone losses for the Huskers from Higginsville, who are outscoring opponents 73-47, came by a combined three points to 8-3 Lawson and 11-3 Grain Valley, which the Gremlins defeated 65-62 in early December.

As for the Yellowjackets of Glasgow, they routed Fayette 56-38 earlier in the year and are outscoring opponents 69-41. And their lone loss came to 11-2 Sturgeon, which is ranked fifth in Class 2.

“It’s a very tough tournament,” Goodwin said. “We would have been happy with any one of the top three seeds, and that’s how good this tournament is. Nobody really lost anyone from last year.”

The Gremlins kick off the tournament at 6 p.m. today against the seventh-seeded host Wildcats, and then the competition heats up.

If the Gremlins get past the Wildcats, they would face the victor of the Fayette-Santa Fe game, with the championship being up for grabs from there.

For Goodwin, the title would obviously mean a boost to his program, which has made the finals eight times since joining the tournament field in the mid-1990s. That includes a title in 2004 for the Democrat’s 2011 Coach of the Year, who’s made the tournament finals in six out of 13 times since he took over at Sacred Heart in 1998.

But the championship isn’t the be-all, end-all for Goodwin.

“The championship would mean a lot ... but more importantly, we always leave the Slater tournament better than when we entered it,” he said.

Six seasons removed from the title, the Gremlins have been close to ending the drought recently. But like last year’s 66-65 championship loss to Fayette, their first loss of the season after starting out 14-0, the Gremlins have left with the second-place trophy in three consecutive years.

But this year’s crew will have a strong chance to end the dry spell.

It all starts with the Big Four. The most transcendent point guard in The Democrat’s coverage area, Lakin Kehde (5 feet, 7 inches) is averaging just shy of double-digit assists while fellow senior Jared Dey (6-1) is averaging a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards.

Last year’s Democrat All-Area Player of the Year senior Caleb Morrison (6-5), despite missing four games  with a left high ankle sprain, has recaptured his double-double form, and sophomore Stefan Cox (6-2) is a natural scorer, leading the team with around 19 points per game.

It’s that core that has paved the way for the Gremlins’ gaudy numbers. For instance, not only are they 13-0 and primed to win their fourth consecutive Kaysinger Conference regular-season and tournament championships, but the awe-inspiring dominance has transferred to a disparity in the scoreboard:

The Gremlins are outscoring opponents by an average of 77-56 and conference opponents by an average of 81-55 on their way to a 5-0 mark.

On offense, they’ve topped 81 points four times, topped 71 10 times and haven’t slipped below 64 in any contest. Riding their run-and-gun offense, they’ve also won 26 straight at home and 36 straight against conference opponents.

But while essential to the team’s success, the play of the Big Four is not what’s going to get Sacred Heart over the hump and deep into the playoffs. Instead, the wild card is the effort of its underclassmen role players — guards Jerrion Jackson (5-9) and Chase Lyles (5-11), who’ve both seen starting minutes recently, and 6-footers Clint Spangler, Garrett Strange and Mason Kelchner. It’s that core that will be most tested this upcoming week.

“This tournament can only help our young players develop,” Goodwin said. “We’ll definitely learn a lot this week.”

That makes two of us.