Advance boys basketball rallies, soars past Bell City in SCAA Tournament

DEXTER, Mo. -- The fifth-seeded Bell City boys basketball team hit 15 3-pointers but it wasn't enough to upset No. 4 Advance on Tuesday night at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

The Hornets rallied from a 53-44 third-quarter deficit to beat the Cubs 96-82 in a quarterfinal of the Stoddard County Activities Association Conference Tournament.

"Bell City came to play tonight," Advance coach Bubba Wheetley said. "I thought they attacked well and broke our press down quite a bit. At times we looked good and our press was all right. We forced a lot of turnovers, but we still gave up a lot of dribble drives.

"Bell City shot it exceptionally well. We left them open some, but they still made shots even when we contested them. Credit them for playing pretty good. I challenged our guys at halftime if they wanted it or not. I thought it was good for us to get a good challenge and we came out in the third quarter and played pretty well."

The Cubs (11-6) took their largest lead of the game at 53-44 with 6:13 left in the third period. Advance (14-2) scored the next 14 points to move ahead 58-53 with 2:40 left in the third quarter and never trailed after.

"My guys played hard," Bell City coach C.J. Hadley said. "This is our third time facing Advance and it's always the third quarter that beats us. I've asked coach [David] Heeb [Hadley's former coach at Bell City] for some tips on how to handle the third quarter, but it's something our guys have to learn how to handle on their own. I think tonight we got tired in the third quarter with us only dressing seven players. We played good the first half, but Advance had another good third quarter against us again."

Advance put on its own 3-point show late in the third period when it hit three straight treys. Brian Whitson's 3 gave Advance a 64-57 lead and back-to-back triples by Preston Weubker increased the Hornets' lead to 70-59 with 49 seconds left in the third period.

"That was a big difference," Wheetley said of the perimeter shots. "We didn't hit our shots early and Dawson Mayo had to carry us inside. I've said all along, 'We've got to have that inside presence.' And you could see how important the inside presence was tonight. He made a bunch of big shots and that opened up the other guys late."

The Hornets increased their lead to 72-59 by the end of the third quarter and led by double digits throughout the fourth period.

Advance center Dawson Mayo scored at least six points in every quarter on his way to a team-high 33 points. Advance forward Austin Ladd added 16 more points in the paint and had two dunks.

"They've got two big guys that are real good," Hadley said. "They've got the real deal. They've got shooters and big guys. Their big man Mayo came up big for them tonight. He wanted the ball. We tried our best to guard him. We did the best we could, but I think we can do better against him. I think a lot of it had to do with fatigue as we got tired down the stretch. But I don't take anything from Advance. They are a good team."

Bell City hit nine of its 3-pointers before halftime.

Cole Nichols and Bobby Wright both hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of play. The spot-on perimeter shooting allowed Bell City to take a 12-6 lead by the 3:23 mark of the first period.

Advance put together a 10-2 run late in the first quarter. The swing ended with a pair of free throws by Whitson that gave Advance its first lead at 22-20 with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

Bell City moved back ahead, 23-22, when Wright drained another 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter.

The Cubs increased their lead to as large as six at 30-24 with six minutes left in the first half. Advance followed with a 13-4 run to take its largest advantage of the first half at 37-34 with 3:56 left in the second quarter.

Cole Nichols finished with a game-high 31 points for Bell City. Wright scored 18 points and Siebert tallied 12 points.

Wright had five 3-pointers. Nichols and Siebert hit four 3s. Taylor Jackson hit two additional treys for the Cubs on his way to a nine-point night.

Weubker hit half of Advance's four shots from outside the arc. He finished with 20 points.

Armani Vermillion and Whitson also finished in double digits for the Hornets with 11 points each.

Bell City begins preparing for a potential playoff meeting with Advance when it starts a grueling February schedule Tuesday night hosting Bloomfield.

"We don't have anymore easy games," Hadley said. "The rest of our schedule is tough. We face Woodland, Bloomfield, Dexter and Kelly. We've got to face some big teams. I told my guys tonight was a good night and we shot the ball well, but it's next game the rest of the way. It doesn't matter what your record is right now. You want to win every game down the stretch so you can keep playing."

Advance plays top-seeded Woodland in a championship semifinal of the SCAA Tournament Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at Dexter.

"I don't think anyone played bad," Wheetley said. "We just had a few too many unforced turnovers. We are just going to go back to work Wednesday and get ready for Woodland."

Bell City 23 24 12 23 -- 82

Advance 22 20 30 24 -- 96

BELL CITY (82) -- Taylor Jackson 9, Kolten Siebert 12, Logan Yates 5, Cole Nichols 31, Peyton Maddox 7, Bobby Wright 18. FG 26, FT 15-21, F 23. (3-pointers: Wright 5, Siebert 4, Nichols 4, Jackson 2. Fouled out: Brandon Abner).

ADVANCE (96) -- Armani Vermillion 11, Dakota Welty 5, Preston Wuebker 20, Brian Whitson 11, Austin Ladd 16, Dawson Mayo 33. FG 34, FT 24-34, F 21. (3-pointers: Weubker 2, Whitson, Welty. Fouled out: none).