PIERRE - The Pierre boys gave a more competitive showing in its rematch with Mitchell but the end result was more of the same as the Kernels bounced the Govs 54-38 Friday at Riggs Gym.

Mitchell dominated the Govs in the season-opener, 75-48 on Dec. 7, including a 30-7 first quarter. The Governors only trailed 15-10 after one quarter on Friday.

The Kernels doubled up Pierre 24-12 with 3:40 to go but the Gov defense held the visitors scoreless the rest of the half. The home team trailed by seven at halftime, 24-17, compared to 57-19 in December.

Pierre's hopes began to build in the third quarter. A steal and breakaway layup by Dillon Gran cut the margin to five, 30-25, with 4:42 left. But Bret Young would get fouled on a three-point field goal try. That would spark a 10-0 Mitchell run and Pierre would never get within 13 points the rest of the way.

"We competed better, but there were some little things that we didn't take care of," Pierre coach Terry Becker said. "There were some loose balls and a few offensive rebounds that we gave up. Those were the things that made the difference for them in the second half."

Young finished as the game-high scorer with 18 points, all in the first three quarters. Jordan Long had 16 points, 12 coming in the second half. Pierre was led by Curry Kuehl with 10 points. Michael Gardner, who is leading the team in scoring this year, had only two points. Pierre falls to 3-7 on the season, 1-5 in the ESD. This was the fifth straight win for the Kernels, who improve to 7-2 overall, 5-2 in the conference. Mitchell was ranked No. 4 in this week's state Class AA sportswriters' poll.

Pierre will be on the road today when they go to the Summit Center to play Yankton.

"To be a good basketball team, you have to take care of the little things," Becker said. "Our kids are working hard. We just need to get a little smarter. We need to start making more strides through the month of January."