Bell City advances to showdown with Jackson

It would have been easy to mistake Tuesday's quarterfinal game between Bell City and Advance at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament as a tribute to the whistle, but between the fouls the Cubs were able to score enough to get past Stoddard County rival Advance 81-58 at the Show Me Center.

Bell City will play Jackson in the semifinals 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Advance will play Meadow Heights at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the bracket for the fifth-place game.

Fifty-six fouls were called, including 35 in the second half. Thanks to a 20-point halftime lead, the third-seeded Cubs were able to avoid the upset and shake off what seemed to be a never-ending final 16 minutes.

"Coming in at half, I thought we were going in the right direction," Bell City coach Brian Brandtner said. "All year long we've come out well after the half, but that wasn't the case tonight."

This was the second meeting for the two teams after Bell City blew out the Hornets in a regular-season game. Bell City came out hot again, leading 13-4 early and in double digits for most of the second quarter and beyond.

Advance coach Joe Shoemaker said he thought his team would come out more inspired for the second meeting.

"I thought the guys would come out a lot more intense at the beginning," he said. "We didn't come ready to play, and they did."

Advance hit 15 of 21 free throws in the second half to stay in the game. The sixth-seeded Hornets seemed to stick around as the game hardly went more than 10 seconds without a whistle.

"We got lackadaisical, it seemed like," Brandtner said. "We didn't have the same intensity, it seemed. We let them get shots they wanted to get."

With a little over 4 minutes remaining, the Hornets pulled to within 10 at 58-48, and later were down 62-52. Advance could not pull any closer, though.

"We spent a lot of energy getting back to 10," Shoemaker said. "We had a layup get called a charge and that was the straw that broke our back."

In the opening half, Bell City continued to get easy looks off dribble penetration. Kerry Lasters picked up a pair of three-point plays in the opening quarter off drives.

Bell City's 6-foot-9 junior Will Bogan was able to give the Cubs a lift inside as well. Bogan scored 14 points in the opening half and finished with 20.

"We dug ourselves a hole," Shoemaker said. "We didn't stop the dribble penetration in the first half."

Nick Niemczyk finished with 17 points for Bell City, Lasters had 14, Blaine Stewart had 12 and Phillip Gross had 11.

Alex Steil had 14 for Advance, James Masters had 12 and Jeremy Limbaugh had 10. The Hornets will now have to face district opponent Meadow Heights in the fifth-place bracket.

"They're a district opponent so that's a big game for us," Shoemaker said.

Bell City 81, Advance 58

Advance 10 13 17 18 -- 58

Bell City 21 22 11 27 -- 81

ADVANCE (58) -- Alex Steil 14, James Masters 12, Trenton Moses 8, Josh Bailey 2, Cameron Stevens 5, Jeremy Limbaugh 10, Cody Mitchell 2, Jordan Seabaugh 2. FG 17, FT 24-32, F 32 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Steil)

BELL CITY (81) -- Will Bogan 20, Kerry Lasters 14, Nick Niemczyk 17, Phillip Gross 11, Blaine Stewart 12, Jeff Liggins 7. FG 24, FT 33-47, F 27 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Lasters)

Jackson 95, Meadow Heights 44

The second-seeded Indians led by just four points after the opening quarter against No. 10 Meadow Heights, but their defense tightened up for yet another blowout victory.

Jackson will play Bell City in the semifinals Thursday.

After making 14 3-pointers in a win over Scott City, Meadow Heights had just five Tuesday. The Panthers had just one 3-pointer after halftime.

"First thing we wanted to control the dribble penetration, not let them get to the middle of the floor so they could penetrate and kick," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "Secondly, we wanted to contest their shots."

Jackson spread its scoring around, with Ryan Leet's 19 points leading the way. Kyle Pridemore added 13 points, and Jake Leet and Drue McNeely had 12 points apiece.

Anthony Bollinger finished with 15 points for the Panthers, and Terry Wagner added 11 points.

Meadow Heights will play Advance on Thursday in the fifth-place bracket.

Meadow Heights 17 9 15 3 -- 44

Jackson 21 26 30 18 -- 95

MEADOW HEIGHTS (44) -- Terry Wagner 11, Anthony Bollinger 15, Ruggerro Moretto 4, Heath Fulton 6, John Long 2, Dusty Davis 2. FG 16, FT 7-15, F 23 (3-pointers: Wagner 3, Revelle 1, Fulton 1. Fouled out: none)

JACKSON (95) -- Ryan Leet 19, Drue McNeely 12, Jake Leet 12, Kyle Pridemore 13, Colby Illers 8, Aaron Redecker 9, Hunter Grantham 8, Spencer Goodman 3, Steven Spardlin 7. FG 32, FT 25-35, F 16 (3-pointers: McNeely 3, R. Leet 2, Pridemore 1, Lawson 1. Fouled out: none)

Charleston 57, Kelly 47

The top-seeded Blue Jays built a 19-point halftime lead and survived a second-half comeback to advance to the semifinals.

Charleston will play No. 5 Notre Dame in Thursday's semifinal round.

Charleston saw its lead to as little as five points in the fourth quarter, but hit eight of nine free throws in the final period to stay in front. Jamarcus Williams finished with 26 points for Charleston.

Charleston coach Danny Farmer said his team seems to let teams get back in games when it has a big lead.

"They've got to develop a killer instinct to get to the next level," he said.

Brandon Ayers led Kelly with 15 points, and Spencer Ayers added 14 points.

Kelly will play Central in the fifth-place bracket.

Kelly 10 9 13 15 -- 47

Charleston 22 16 4 15 -- 57

KELLY (47) -- Jamarcus Williams 26, Justin Clark 9, Shawn Sherrell 10, Jerrell Quinn 8, Tavis Hamilton 2, Paul Johnson 2. FG 20, FT 15-20, F 16 (3-pointers: Clark 2. Fouled out: none)

CHARLESTON (57) -- Brandon Ayers 15, Specner Ayers 14, Stephen Strobel 3, Jordan Felter 2, Jacob Glastetter 4, Dallas Tew 3. FG 19, FT 6-15, F 16 (3-pointers: Tew 1, B. Ayers 2. Fouled out: none)