Fourth-quarter spurt carries Advance past Central 54-43

The Advance locker room was rowdy Tuesday after the Class 2 Hornets played Class 5 Central in the fifth-place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

No. 7 Advance trailed by one point entering the fourth quarter, but outscored the No. 5 Tigers 19-7 in the final period to come away with a 54-43 win at the Show Me Center.

"We're Class 2, so this is nice for us," Advance senior David VanGennip said. "We [were in the tournament title game] back in 1999, but we haven't really done all that good since then. Fifth place — that's good for Advance. To beat a school like that, we were pretty excited."

Advance got strong games out of all three members of the team with the last name VanGennip. And all three of the VanGennips — David, Darren and Cody — are related.

David VanGennip took an accidental elbow to the face and missed about four minutes of the third quarter, but he still scored 11 points in the contest.

David's brother, sophomore Darren VanGennip, who was called up to the varsity at the start of the tournament, scored eight points, including five big ones in the final quarter.

David and Darren's cousin, senior Cody VanGennip, came off the bench to play some strong defense late in the second half when the Hornets switched to a press.

Also having a strong game was Jacob Bond. He led the Hornets with 16 points.

"It's been a while since a [Advance] team has beat a big school like this," Bond said. "This is a pretty big win. We were pretty pumped. ... We came out and played a good game. We haven't been playing to our potential lately."

Central coach Drew Church said his team missed too many shots to win.

"To tell you the truth, nothing hurt us worse than missing 17 layups and turning the ball over," Church said. "They're a good team and they play hard, but if you miss as many layups as we did and you come out on top, I'll be very surprised.

"We got good shots. We had trouble throwing the entry pass, but we still got penetration. We still got layups. That's why it's frustrating."

Advance led in the first quarter until Central's Rick Russell banked home a shot to tie it 15-15 with 27 seconds left. But the Hornets pulled back ahead with a 3-pointer by Blake Lingle with 8 seconds remaining to lead 18-15 entering the second quarter.

Advance led 28-25 at halftime. Bond had a strong first half with 10 points, including two 3-pointers in the second quarter.

The third quarter included three lead changes, with Central leading 36-35 entering the fourth quarter.

Advance took a 39-38 lead with 6 minutes, 9 seconds left in the fourth and never surrendered the lead.

Darren VanGennip did a nice job getting to the basket and the free-throw line during the final period.

"I just kind of stepped up and we all stepped up our energy," Darren VanGennip said. "And when my brother is out there, I feel more comfortable playing. He kept feeding it to me and told me to just go to the hole quick. It's been fun. I like playing with my brother and everything."

Central's Josh Harris said his team was surprised when Advance started to press.

"We just had to try to adjust to it and keep doing what we know how to do," Harris said. "They just outworked us. They're a pretty good team."

Advance coach Josh Dowdy said he was impressed with the way his bench played, starting with Cody VanGennip, who did a nice job pressuring Central on defense.

"We got a lot of help off the bench," Dowdy said. "That's making us a much better team. I'm just so proud of them to hang in there while David was out. Of course, when he came back, that just gave us that extra spark to finish off the game."

Advance1810719—54

Central1510117—43

Advance (54) — Brad Steil 6, Luke Steil 6, David VanGennip 11, Tyler Slinkard 2, Cody VanGennip 2, Blake Lingle 3, Jacob Bond 16, Darren VanGennip 8. FG 20, FT 9-15, F 9. (3-pointers: B. Steil 2, Lingle 1, Bond 2. Fouled out: None)

Central (43) — Andrew Williams 2, Josh Harris 12, Kevin Casasola 8, Rick Russell 8, Zach Boerboom 13. FG 19, FT 2-3, F 14. (3-pointers: Harris 1, Casasola 2. Fouled out: Harris, Williams)