KELLY BOYS GANG UP ON JACKSON

BENTON -- Kelly High boys basketball coach Kent Mangels dubbed this week "Championship Week" for his team.

Break out those old Queen albums Kelly fans because the Hawks are the champions of the champions.

After knocking off Woodland Tournament champ and Class 1A state-ranked Delta earlier in the week, Class 2A Kelly worked its way to a 71-62 victory Friday night over Farmington tourney-champion Jackson.

The win improved the Hawks to 5-0, their best start ever under Mangels in his four years at the school. Jackson, which fell to the Hawks for the fourth year in a row, fell to 3-2.

"We talked all week about this being championship week for us," Mangels said. "We had some doubters out there saying `it was going to be a tough week for us', but I kept telling people `it might be tough for us but it will also be tough for our opponents.'"

Kelly proved its critics wrong by playing tough against a physical Jackson squad. The Indians pounded Kelly inside with 6-foot-5 towers Justin Keen and Jeff Walter, but the Hawks -- especially 6-2 junior Jason Glastetter -- didn't back down.

Glastetter played an amazing all-around game, scoring 19 points, grabbing several key rebounds while providing most of the muscle on the inside for the Hawks.

"It was very physical," Glastetter said, describing the action. "Jackson's a big team and we're all about the same height (on Kelly), but we gave it our all.

"We're really playing as a team right now and that's what's getting it (done) for us."

Jim Hulshof led the Hawks with 24 points, including three 3-pointers in the first quarter that pushed the Hawks to a 15-12 first-quarter lead. Denver Stuckey added 16 for the Hawks, including two late threes in the final minute of the second quarter that put the Hawks up 34-27 at halftime.

The Hawks stretched that lead to 52-42 entering the fourth quarter on two late free throws by Glastetter. Walter scored eight of his team-high 16 points in the third quarter for Jackson. Keen scored 13 and Doug Carey added 11.

"We shot the ball fairly well for two points, but we didn't get the ball inside to Walter enough," said Jackson coach Steve Burk. "Kelly just took it to us. They hurt us inside and we didn't defend very well."

Walter fouled out with 5:57 left and Jackson trailing 55-48. But the Indians mounted a final charge that closed the score to 61-59 with 1:22 left.

"The last five minutes was the best we played," said Burk. "But its easy to play when you're behind."

Kelly kept the Indians behind with two late buckets by senior Nathan Dirnberger and 6 of 6 free throw shooting down the stretch.

"Everytime we play Jackson its just a battle," said Mangels. "The thing that I'm so pleased about with our kids is the way they handled the adversity. Our kids fought for each other."

The victory should also come in handy for the Hawks with the University High Christmas Tournament seed meeting coming up Sunday.

"We played our best game of the season," Glastetter said. "We wanted to go out and get a good seed in the U-High Tournament and I think this got it for us."