Kelly happy with fifth-place trophy

Since Kelly graduated four starters from last season's team that reached the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament championship game, not much was expected from the Hawks in this year's event.

But they had other ideas.

Kelly, despite being seeded just ninth in the 16-team field, finished fifth by virtue of Friday's 63-60 overtime victory against Advance at the Show Me Center.

The Hornets matched their seed by placing sixth.

"We lost a lot of great guys last year, but we've got a good group this year," Kelly senior Brandon Ayers said. "And we've got one of the best coaches around."

That coach, former Southeast Missouri State sharpshooting guard Cory Johnson, has the Hawks rolling again during his second season in charge of the program.

Kelly went 21-6 last year and is off to an 8-3 start this season. They avenged two of those three losses this week by beating Advance and Scott County Central.

"I told the guys we should be proud of this. Two years in a row we got seeded pretty low and came out with three wins," said Johnson, whose squad was seeded seventh last year but finished second. "We were kind of written off this year, but these guys really work hard. I like this team."

Ayers led the Hawks with 16 points and finished the tournament with 66 points.

Junior Dallas Tew, who had scored just 15 points in Kelly's first three tournament games, contributed 14 points.

Junior center Spencer Ayers, Brandon's younger brother, added 13 points and ended with 79 points to earn all-tournament honors. Spencer Ayers had 35 points during a first-round win over Scott County Central.

"The Ayers boys both had great tournaments, and Dallas Tew played really well today," Johnson said. "We got a lot of contributions."

Advance (6-5) was paced by senior Daryl Wade with 17 points. Senior Jeremy Limbaugh scored 12 points, while senior James Masters and junior Alex Steil both added 11 points.

Steil scored 73 points in Advance's four tournament games and made the all-tourney squad.

In a game that was close most of the way -- neither squad led by more than eight points -- Advance appeared to have the upper hand when it expanded a 32-27 halftime advantage to 39-32 early in the third quarter.

Kelly closed to within 44-41 entering the fourth quarter, then took its first lead since midway through the second period as Tew's 3-pointer put the Hawks up 47-46 with 6:17 remaining.

The Hawks stayed ahead and appeared to have control when Russell Carroll made both ends of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left for a 53-50 advantage.

But Steil drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner with three seconds left to forge a 53-53 tie. It was on to overtime -- but Johnson said the Hawks were not deflated.

"You have to stay focused when that happens," Johnson said. "We were very resilient all tournament."

Advance held two leads early in the four-minute extra session, but Kelly went ahead for good, 57-56, on Jordan Felter's layup with 2:41 remaining.

Kelly went up by four points, 60-56, on Felter's layup with 1:35 left, and the Hawks were able to hold on down the stretch.

The Hornets closed to within 61-60 on two Wade free throws with 17 seconds to go. Tew made one of two foul shots two seconds later, then recorded a big block on Steil's drive.

Tew again hit one of two foul shots with 4.7 seconds left for the final 63-60 margin, and Steil's half-court shot was well off at the buzzer.

"We're 8-3 and those have probably been eight pretty ugly wins, but it's not because of a lack of effort," said a smiling Johnson, whose squad avenged a season-opening 72-59 loss to Advance in the Oran Tournament. "I'm proud of them."

Kelly 63, Advance 60, OT

Advance 5 27 12 9 7 -- 60

Kelly 10 17 14 12 10 -- 63

ADVANCE (60) -- Rusty Hendricks 2, Jeremy Limbaugh 12, Daryl Wade 17, Alex Steil 11, Josh Bailey 3, James Masters 11, Trenton Moses 4. FG 23, FT 10-15, F 19 (3-pointers: Limbaugh 1, Wade 2, Steil 1. Fouled out: Limbaugh)

KELLY (63) -- Stephen Strobel 3, Brandon Ayers 16, Jordan Felter 6, Spencer Ayers 13, Dallas Tew 14, Thomas DeBrock 2, Russell Carroll 5, Jacob Glastetter 4. FG 22, FT 13-26, F 14 (3-pointers: B. Ayers 3, Tew 1, Carroll 1, Glastetter 1. Fouled out: none)