Christmas Tournament: Higher seeds advance in consolation quarterfinals

The Woodland boys basketball team jumped out to a double-digit lead against Meadow Heights in a Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament consolation quarterfinal Friday, but that lead shrunk to four points to start the fourth quarter.

"Defensively we picked it up," Woodland coach Scot Davis said in an understatement.

The Cardinals did not allow Meadow Heights to score a point in the fourth quarter -- although the Panthers did have a few quality chances to score -- and pulled away for a 51-34 victory.

"The tough thing was offensively," Davis said. "We got great looks, and they just wouldn't fall tonight. We found out a different way to win and that came on the defensive end. We held them to 34 points. We struggled to score. We score, it's a different ballgame, but we weren't hitting like we normally do. We had to find other ways to win, and we did that tonight."

The Cardinals led 21-8 after the first quarter, but they scored just seven points in the third quarter as Meadow Heights mounted a comeback.

"There was times when we had great offense and then we missed the open shot, and there was times we had poor offense and then we turned the ball over," Davis said. Junior Garret Reynolds led Woodland with 21 points with Evan Grindstaff and Devon Gramlisch both added 10.

Tyler Cook paced the Panthers with 12 points.

Meadow Hts 8 14 12 0 -- 34

Woodland 21 10 7 13 -- 51

MEADOW HEIGHTS (34) -- Jacob Douglas 1, Justin McGuire 8, Chris Bollinger 4, Tyler Cook 12, Kyle Baremore 9. FG 14, FT 5-11, F 15. (3-pointers: Baremore 1. Fouled out: none)

WOODLAND (51) -- Evan Grindstaff 10, Garret Reynolds 21, Cole Schlief 2, Devon Ritter 3, Landon Johnson 3, Devon Gramlisch 10, Ben Lincoln 2. FG 18, FT 10-17, F 10. (3-pointers: Grindstaff 1, Reynolds 3, Ritter 1. Fouled out: none)

Scott City 64, Kelly 50

Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller provided what he said sounded like a "stupid" explanation for the run that sparked his team's victory against Kelly on Friday.

Dannenmueller said his team simply played better when they turned a deficit into a lead with an 11-0 lead in the second quarter on its way to a 64-50 victory.

"We didn't do anything different, but I thought our effort was better, and I thought we competed a little bit harder I thought what we were trying to do we executed better on offense," Dannenmueller said. "We got the ball moving, got their zone moving and then we finally were moving ourselves."

Kelly pulled within six points twice with less than four minutes left in the game, but Scott City made 10 of its 12 free-throw attempts over the final 3 minutes, 38 seconds to secure the victory. The Rams made 31 of their 43 free throws in the game.

"I thought we did a good job of finishing," Dannenmueller said. "I think we did a good job of responding there at the end and stepping up and making just enough free throws. With a young team you're just looking for anything that you can build off of. That's what I told them. I was like, 'Hey, it's ugly. That's OK. We'll take it.' I was proud we found a way to finish it all off. I didn't think we should have been in that situation, but it is what it is. We could've folded, but we didn't. The kids kept playing, so that's what we're looking for."

Kelly 14 8 9 19 -- 50

Scott City 12 16 18 18 -- 64

KELLY (50) -- Gaven Ray 14, Dalton Huffman 7, Jerrod Lynn 3, Riley Stark 2, Josh Roberts 11, Derrick Garner 6, Clay Williams 5, Connor Dittlinger 2. FG 16, F 13-19, F 31. (3-pointers: Ray 2, Lynn 1, Roberts 1, Garner 1. Fouled out: Ray, Hoffman, Williams, Dittlinger)

SCOTT CITY (64) -- Dylan Keller 2, Trent Pobst 28, Isiah Berry 5, Brock Uelsmann 7, Braden Cox 6, Dominic Hooper 16. FG 15, FT 31-43, F 15. Fouled out: none)

Advance 85, Bell City 59

The Hornets used a big third quarter to separate themselves from the Cubs in a 85-59 victory.

Advance, which outscored Bell City by 20 points in the third, was led by senior Lane Below's 21 points.

Bell City was paced by sophomore Peyton Maddox, who finished with 21 points.

Bell City 10 22 10 19 -- 59

Advance 17 25 30 13 -- 85

BELL CITY (59) -- Nate Finney 2, Kolten Siebert 5, Tyler Evans 9, Nolan Schaefer 2, Aaron Smith 8, Austin Hicks 8, Bobby Wright 2, Cameron Polly 2, Peyton Maddox 21. FG 25, FT 7-10, F 20. (3-pointers: Siebert 1, Smith 1. Fouled out: Smith)

ADVANCE (85) -- Zane Eggiman 8, Austin Miller 3, Garrett Walker 9, Lane Below 21, Eli Seger 14, Alex Morse 4, Richard Nixon III 2, Dalton Wilson 12, Ben Trout 7, Grant Woodfin 5. FG 32, FT 19-24, F 18. (3-pointers: Walker 1, Below 1. Fouled out: none)

Oak Ridge 65, Delta 32

Seniors Ryan Below and Jake LeGrand led Oak Ridge to a big win over Delta.

Below scored 21 points and LeGrand scored 20 in the Blue Jays' 65-32 win.

Austin White had 10 lead Delta.

Delta 11 12 4 5 -- 32

Oak Ridge 15 25 22 3 -- 65

DELTA (32) -- Trever Glaus 4, Charlie Ledbetter 6, Jesse Nance 6, Alex Lashley 6, Austin White 10. FG 14, FT 4-8, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

OAK RIDGE (65) -- Nathan Bolin 2, Andrew Puchbauer 3, Joe Grieme 1, Kelby Brown 9, Ryan Below 21, Jake LeGrand 20, Kolt Metje 8, Clay Maintz 1. FG 25, FT 9-21, F 8. (3-pointers: Brown 3, Below 1, LeGrand 1. Fouled out: none)

-- From staff reports