CHAFFEE MAKES NOISE IN CONSOLATION BRACKET

With all due respect for Bell City and Oran who have played well and pulled off two upsets each in the University High Christmas Tournament, perhaps the biggest surprise of the bracket is Chaffee.

The 14th-seeded Red Devils will find themselves in the consolation championship game today after they knocked off No. 7 Scott County Central 64-60 Friday.

Chaffee, which knocked off Scott Central for the first time since 1974, will play 13th-seeded Kelly at 3 p.m. Kelly downed No. 8 Woodland 57-50.

Chaffee (3-2) is led by arguably the best offensive player in the tournament, Matt Stroup, who has put forth the top three scoring performances in the tournament, including 31 points against Scott Central.

"Just to get this far is a step for us," said first-year coach Brian Horrell, whose Chaffee team had not won a tournament game in several years. "We still have a ways to go, but we've got a good group of athletes. On any given day, we have a chance."

Stroup, who has scored 88 points in three games, is by far the tournament's top scorer. No other player is even averaging 20 points per game.

"He's really had a good tournament," said Horrell. "He always gets a lot of points, but usually the first thing I check is his rebounds. He usually leads us in rebounds and he makes everybody else better.

"We've got good kids and there's no jealousy. His teammates realize he works hard on defense and everybody understands their roles. G.P. Glueck and Chase Eskew have been playing real good defense for us and it's just a matter of time before they start scoring more."

Glueck scored 16 points for Chaffee against Scott Central, while no other player scored more than five.

Todd Blissett scored 16 points for the Braves, followed by Desmen Johnson added 12 and Tim Carlisle posted 11.

No. 10 Bell City 59No. 6 Cape Central 55

Class 1A Bell City posted a mild upset over 4A Cape Central, getting 18 points from Eric Henry, 14 from Gabe Scherer and 11 from Jason Rampley in fifth-place semifinal.

The game was tight all the way through, but Scherer hit some big free throws down the stretch.

Cape Central, which was eliminated, got 17 points from Chris Cole, who hit five three-pointers. Michael Cox chipped in with 11 points.

Bell City will play Oran for fifth place at 4:30 p.m. today.

No. 9 Oran 63No. 4 Scott City 62

Oran's Adam Friga, who missed two crucial free throws late in the game against No. 1 Charleston Thursday night, redeemed himself and swished two free throws with 20 seconds left to give the Eagles a 63-62 lead.

Scott City, which lost in double overtime to No. 5 Advance late Thursday night, got off a decent shot late, but Ben Sample's 17-footer just missed with about five seconds left. Oran came up with a loose ball off the shot.

Oran got 19 points from Ryne Wood, while Friga added 14.

Nick Steimle had a huge game for the Rams (5-4), but his 26 points weren't enough.

Oran will play Bell City at 4:30 p.m. today for fifth place.

No. 13 Kelly 57No. 8 Woodland 50

Kelly jumped out to a 28-21 lead at halftime and held the Cardinals at bay in the second half.

Josh Glastetter paced Kelly with 16 points, followed by Michael Romas with 11 and Barry Ziegler with 10.

Woodland also had three players in double figures, but had only five players score any points.

Luke Johnson led the Cardinals with 15 points, followed by Jared Houchins with 12 and Chris Masters with 11.