Devils provide no consolation for Panthers

Chaffee coach David Mirly didn't necessarily complain about his team getting the 16th and last seed for the University High School Christmas Tournament.

But Mirly admitted that he used that dubious distinction as a bit of a war cry for his Red Devils.

"I did use it as motivation," Mirly said. "But we don't really need that because these guys come out to play hard all the time."

Chaffee certainly played hard in the second half against ninth-seeded Meadow Heights Thursday afternoon during a consolation quarterfinal game at the Show Me Center.

Just one day after losing to top-seeded Charleston by 41 points in the first round, the Red Devils wiped out a 14-point halftime deficit to eliminate the Panthers with a 56-46 victory.

In other consolation quarterfinal action Thursday, No. 10 Woodland held off No. 15 Oak Ridge 63-49, No. 12 Scott City routed No. 13 Leopold 74-46 and No. 14 Delta defeated No. 11 Kelly 78-70.

Today's consolation semifinals will feature natural rivals Chaffee against Scott City at noon and Woodland against Delta at 1:30 p.m. The winners advance to Saturday's consolation final.

CHAFFEE 56, M. HEIGHTS 46

Meadow Heights, off to its best start in years, entered the tournament intent on earning some respect, according to coach Tom Brown.

And after Wednesday's solid showing during a four-point first-round loss to Scott County Central, the Panthers appeared well on their way to achieving that, especially once they led Chaffee 30-16 at halftime.

But the Red Devils stormed back. They pulled to within 42-37 after three quarters and then outscored the Panthers 19-4 in the final period.

The Panthers, after falling behind briefly, led 46-45 after a Chris Burr basket with 3:59 remaining but they failed to score the rest of the way as the Red Devils reeled off the game's final 11 points.

Chase Eskew, who had a big performance, put the Red Devils ahead to stay with a 3-pointer at the 2:51 mark that made it 48-46. Chaffee then pulled away by hitting eight of its next 10 free throws as Meadow Heights went ice cold.

"We came out flat, but we never gave up," Mirly said. "We knew no matter what our seed was, we were going to have to play some good teams anyway."

Eskew led the Red Devils (2-5) with 21 points and James Reischman added 13.

Meadow Heights (6-4) got 17 points from Burr and 15 from Joe Jordan. The Panthers played both tourney games without senior point guard Josh Mayfield, their leading scorer and floor general. Mayfield injured an ankle in Meadow Heights' final game before the tournament.

WOODLAND 63, OAK RIDGE 49

Woodland built up a solid lead, held off an Oak Ridge charge and then pulled away down the stretch.

The Cardinals, up 33-22 at halftime, saw the Blue Jays pull to within 42-37 after three quarters. But Woodland outscored Oak Ridge 21-12 in the final period.

Woodland (7-4) had four double-figure scorers, led by Michael Owens with 16 points. Alex VanGennip and Travis Benfield added 11 each while Chad McCormick contributed 10.

Oak Ridge (3-6) received 13 points from Clayton Ruesler and 12 from Adam Hahs. The Blue Jays were hurt by an 8-for-20 performance from the free-throw line.

SCOTT CITY 74, LEOPOLD 46

Scott City set up an interesting matchup with rival Chaffee by hammering Leopold.

The Rams (2-6), who have won two of their past three games after an 0-5 start, had four double-figure scorers. Jeremy Schlosser and Andy Beck led the way with 13 points apiece, followed by Tyler Ward with 12 and Chad Weatherspoon with 11.

The Wildcats (2-8) had no double-figure scorers. Josh Van de Ven and Lucas Horrell both finished with nine points.

DELTA 78, KELLY 70

Delta had control virtually the entire way, save for a late Kelly charge, as the Bobcats continued the Hawks' early-season woes.

Craig Bock pumped in 24 points to pace the Bobcats (3-7), who also got 18 points from freshman Brent Menz, 16 from Lance Kinder and 11 from Matt Kinder.

The Hawks (1-8) got a big performance from Tyler Schlosser, who scored 27 points. Major Burger added 11.

Delta led 41-30 at halftime and stretched the advantage to more than 20 points in the fourth quarter before a Kelly rally fell short.

"We played well," said Delta coach Robert Stein. "We hadn't beaten Kelly in three or four years. It's a big win for us."