CHARLESTON ROUTS KELLY IN SEMIS

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Kelly kept waiting to catch fire, but it was no match for Charleston.

Charleston, the Class 2A district 2 tournament's top seed, dominated No. 4 Kelly Thursday night 75-46 to advance to the finals.

The Bluejays will take on Notre Dame at 8 p.m. today for the championship.

Charleston, the top seed, left No. 4 Kelly in the dust in the second quarter, outscoring the Hawks 27-8 in taking a 42-15 lead into halftime.

"We didn't expect to do this," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer, whose team that struggled early in the season improved to 17-11 and is playing some of the best basketball in the region. "We started slow and I thought it might be nip-and-tuck. But we turned up our pressure and that caused some turnovers which led to a lot of easy baskets."

Charleston used an 8-2 run at the end of the first quarter to lead Kelly 15-7 going into the second quarter. The first eight minutes of play were rather sloppy as the two teams combined to hit just 10 of their 38 shots and turned the ball over a combined 10 times, which included several traveling calls.

The Bluejays kicked it up a notch in the second quarter and started beating Kelly down the floor and scoring easy transition baskets. Charleston shot a whopping 64 percent (12 of 19) in the second quarter to put the game away. The Bluejays forced Kelly into committing seven turnovers during that span.

Charleston led 67-31 going into the third quarter.

Lezcano Dean led Charleston with 25 points, with 13 coming in the first half and 12 in the third quarter. Dean also had 11 rebounds. Henry Hall was the only other Charleston player to dip into double figures with 11, but 11 Bluejays found the scoring column.

Kelly's Michael Romas was the only player who could produce against Charleston's active and intimidating defense. Romas finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Charleston will likely have a tougher match tonight when it takes on the Bulldogs.

"We don't expect an easy game," Farmer said. "It will be for the district championship and it will be a battle. We expect a dog fight."