Christmas tournament: Yates shoots Bell City past Meadow Heights

Bell City sophomore Jerad Yates battled butterflies during the beginning of Tuesday's Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament.

He hid it well.

Yates scored the Cubs' first 14 points to help propel his team past Meadow Heights 66-57 in a consolation bracket game at the Show Me Center.

"I was definitely tired and I was really nervous," Yates said. "It's my first time ever playing out here as a sophomore. It's kind of nervewracking."

Yates said he didn't feel like he needed to carry his team, but he did a good job of it. He hit 4 of 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line before halftime.

Meadow Heights' Aaron Rankin shoots against Bell City during the third quarter Tuesday.

"I was just on really," he said. "After I hit a couple shots, I just settled down and got into a groove."

Yates finished with a game-high 22 points.

"He's shooting the ball with a lot of confidence right now," Bell City coach Nate Wills said. "He did come off on fire and that kind of continued on to the game. I thought he played a pretty good game defensively as well."

Bell City (3-6) turned the game in the second quarter when it outscored the Panthers 20-9. The Cubs scored the first six points of the quarter to grab the lead.

"That one little run where they were missing shots, we were getting some rebounds and getting some buckets, that one run made the difference in this game," Wills said.

Poor shooting doomed the Panthers in the quarter. They only connected on 19 percent (3 of 16) from the field and 38 percent (3 of 8) from the free-throw line. The shooting struggles reemerged in the fourth quarter.

Bell City entered the final quarter with a seven-point lead, but the Panthers started applying their trademark pressure. The Cubs turned over the ball 10 times in the quarter but Meadow Heights couldn't gain ground because it couldn't hit a free throw.

The Panthers went 5 of 14 (36 percent) from the charity stripe in the final quarter and finished 9 of 24 (38 percent) from the line in the game, which was only slightly better than from the field. Meadow Height converted 31 percent (22 of 71) from the floor.

"We did our job on turnovers," Meadow Heights coach Tom Brown said. "We could not score. We missed too many free throws and easy shots."

Yates hit a 3-pointer to extend Bell City's lead to 14 points early in the fourth, and Meadow Heights got no closer than nine points the rest of the way. Bell City's free-throw shooting helped the Cubs bury the Panthers. They hit 71 percent of their attempts (24 of 34).

"It seemed every time they'd get a turnover and a basket, we'd come down and score," Wills said. "They never could chip into it. We were fortunate we got timely buckets and made our free throws."

Adam Walker led the Panthers with 15 points.

Meadow Hts 12 9 20 16 -- 57

Bell City 10 20 18 18 -- 66

MEADOW HEIGHTS (57) -- Adam Walker 15, Aaron Mayfield 7, Daylan Davis 10, Trent Kiefer 2, Curtis Braswell 5, Calen Buerck 8, Tanner Bollmann 10. FG 22, FT 9-24, F 23. (3-pointers: Walker 2, A. Mayfield 1, Braswell 1. Fouled out: Bollmann)

BELL CITY (66) -- Jerad Yates 22, Cody Adams 4, Terrance Johnson 7, Alan Michael Hess 14, Josh Overbey 5, Shane Hughes 14. FG 21, FT 24-34, F 20. (3-pointers: Yates 4. Fouled out: Hughes)