JACKSON, DELTA REBOUND FROM QUARTERFINAL LOSSES

The consolation and fifth-place semifinals of the University High School Christmas Tournament provided no major upsets Monday at the Show Me Center.

But the No. 11 Bell City Cubs did get past the No. 10 Scott County Central Braves 81-73 to advance into the consolation championship today at 4 p.m. The Cubs will play No. 8 Oran, which eliminated No. 12 Advance 66-59 in the other consolation semifinal.

The fifth-place semifinals provided two blowouts as No. 5 Delta smoked No. 9 Woodland 61-34 and No. 3 Jackson knocked off No. 7 Notre Dame 69-50. Jackson and Delta will play for fifth place today at 5:30.

No. 3 Jackson 69

No. 7 Notre Dame 50

Jackson scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed to eliminate Notre Dame.

Jackson improved to 6-3, while the Bulldogs fell to 3-5.

Seven players scored eight or more points for the Indians, who led 14-6 after the first quarter and 34-23 at the half. Justin Keen was the only Jackson player in double figures, scoring 13 points.

Notre Dame got 14 points from Jason Rubel. Michael Wehner added 13 points and Zach Miller scored 10.

Jeff Walter's jump-hook for two points at the end of the third quarter put the Indians up 49-32 entering the final quarter. Walter, Harith Jones, Levi Bollinger and Cory Daniel all scored nine points for Jackson.

Things didn't get much better for the Bulldogs in the final quarter as they started with six men on the court and were whistled for a technical foul. Justin Keen made both of the resulting free throws to stretch the Jackson lead to 51-32.

No. 5 Delta 61

No. 9 Woodland 34

Woodland had provided two tournament nail-biters prior to this contest, but the Cardinals couldn't keep up with Delta as the Bobcats won by 27 points.

Delta jumped ahead in the first quarter 11-8 and never looked back. The victory improved Delta to 8-2. Woodland left the tournament with a 7-3 mark.

Leading 26-14 at halftime, Delta got two big second-half performances from Shawn Kinder and Ryan Livingston. Kinder scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime and Livingston scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Garrett DeBrock added 10 points for Delta.

David Massa and Corey Yount scored eight points each to lead Woodland. The Cardinals trailed 44-21 after three quarters.

No. 8 Oran 66

No. 12 Advance 59

Oran held a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Advance battled back to tie the score and make things interesting before being eliminated.

Oran improved to 5-4, while Advance fell to 3-6.

The Hornets used full-court pressure to spark a 12-4 run at the start of the final quarter. Two free throws by the Hornets' Tommy Tucker tied the score 49-49 with 5:18 left. Tucker scored 10 of his 16 points in the final frame.

An 8-1 Oran run put the Eagles back ahead 57-50, but the Hornets closed the gap again late.

Advance trailed only 59-56 with 1:30 left, but Oran's 6-foot-5 junior Billy Loper took over the final minute of the game. Loper scored five points and recorded a steal over the last minute to preserve the victory.

Loper ended with 13 points, but classmate Dustin Dannenmueller led the Eagles with 19. Daniel Wheeler added 10 points.

Advance got a game-high 21 points from Gary Ahern before he fouled out late in the fourth quarter. Seth Cantrell scored 11 points.

Advance led 12-10 after one quarter, but Oran went ahead at halftime 22-20. The two teams combined to shoot 62 free throws. Oran made 22 of 29; Advance hit 23 of 33.

No. 11 Bell City 81

No. 10 Scott County 73

Bell City built a big lead heading into the final quarter and the Cubs needed it, holding off a final Scott County charge for the victory.

The Cubs led 58-30 after three quarters, but the Braves cut that lead to as little as five points late. Scott County sophomore Jreece Johnson hit a 3-pointer that cut the Cubs' lead to 71-66 with 1:23 left. Johnson scored 18 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter. He also had six 3-pointers, despite picking up his fourth foul in the first half.

Bell City recovered in time to improve its record to 6-4. Scott County dropped its mark to 5-4.

Bell City's Jacob Jenkins scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the first quarter. The Cubs used a 15-0 run in that quarter to hold a 19-9 lead heading to the second quarter. Jenkins added another six points before the half as the Cubs took a 38-23 halftime lead.

Jarrod Eftink added 18 points for the Cubs followed by Richard Surface with 14 and Justin Stephens with 12.

John Fort scored 15 for the Braves and Earl Winfield 10 before both fouled out.