Advance boys basketball team finally subdues pesky Delta

Advance survived the first scare of the opening day of the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament.

Barely.

The seventh-seeded Hornets (5-3) used smooth shooting from the outside and solid play from the inside to hold off the pesky 10th-seeded Delta Bobcats (5-3) to post a 60-52 victory Monday.

"They were ready for us," Advance coach Andrew Halford said. "And we struggled with it big time."

The Hornets struggled mightily out of the gates.

Delta used a patient attack and several back-door passes to jump on Advance 13-10 after the first quarter.

"We knew they get out in the passing lanes and try to deny all passes," Delta coach Jimmy Johnson said. "And that pretty much plays into what we try to do, so we were able to get some easy buckets early."

The Bobcats' lead didn't last long.

Advance flashed signs of brilliance on offense throughout the second quarter.

The Hornets opened the quarter on an 8-0 run, including five points from senior guard Hunter Wilson.

Wilson paced Advance with 19 points, including three 3-pointers.

"I just try to bring it to every game," he said. "Just try to put the ball in the hole. I was just spotting up and getting open and shooting it."

Added Halford: "It's real nice and when both our big guys play well inside. It opens it up even more for those guys on the outside. And it is nice to have a little inside-outside to go, too. If we got an open 3, yeah we can knock it down. But if we aren't, we can throw it inside and see what they can do with it."

The two teams played cat-and-mouse throughout the second before Delta finally pulled even at 24-24 on two free throws from Greg Brawley.

That's when Tyler Middleton conjured up the shot of the tournament so far.

The junior guard received a pass at halfcourt with just seven-tenths of a second left on the clock and drained a 3-pointer.

"We tied it up at half and they hit that shot," Johnson said. "It just kind of gave them some momentum for the second half."

The Hornets carried over it.

Advance briefly took control in the third.

The Hornets extended their lead to 32-26 two minutes into the quarter, but Delta crawled back.

Greg Brawley hit a trey and Dallas Naramore added a basket to cut the lead to one.

Advance answered with a 15-7 run to end the quarter.

Wilson added nine points in that stretch and Lane Below tallied six of his 17 points to put Advance ahead 47-38 heading into the fourth.

The offense provided the points, but the defense sparked the Hornets' spurt.

Advance pressured the Bobcats into six turnovers in the third quarter to fuel their charge.

"We just played harder," Wilson said. "Everything picks up when you play harder. We pushed the ball, defensively we picked it up to cause turnovers and get easy buckets."

Added Halford: "We might have played good defense there for about three minutes. Other than that, I thought our defense broke down way too much. Way too many easy shots, easy buckets. Yeah we did have a little spurt there in the third where we had two or three minutes of decent defense."

Delta refused to fold in the final frame.

The Bobcats cut its deficit to 49-46 on back-to-back buckets by Brawley with just less than five minutes to play.

Brawley, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, had a game-high 25 points.

The Bobcats pulled within 54-52 on a free throw by Naramore with just more than a minute to play, but the Bobcats failed to muster any more.

"We talked about we had to play 32 minutes of basketball," Johnson said. "Seeing them play, you knew they were going to play 32 minutes hard. They're going to keep coming at you. We just let down. We have to find some mental toughness when the game's on the line and we're still trying to figure that out."

Delta 13 11 14 14 -- 52

Advance 10 17 20 13 -- 60

DELTA (52) -- Greg Brawley 25, Frankie Rozmirsky 3, Dillon Lincoln 3, Austin Lashley 11, Dallas Naramore 10. FG 18. FT 14-28. F 17. (3-pointers: G. Brawley 2. Fouled out: Tanner Schabbing)

ADVANCE (60) -- Tyler Middleton 7, Aaron Veale 2, Hunter Wilson 19, Lane Below 17, Jacob Spears 1, Curtis Gilliland 2, Ethan Barr 12. FG 21. FT 13-24. F 18. (3-pointers: Middleton 1, Wilson 3, Below 1. Fouled out: none)