Kelly's inside game too much for Tigers

The Kelly boys basketball team dominated the interior, both on the glass and in the scoring column, and took care of eighth-seeded Central 63-56 on Saturday in the consolation finals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.

This was the third straight year the Hawks left the tournament with a 3-1 record. Kelly finished fifth last year after a runner-up finish in coach Cory Johnson's first season in 2004.

"Not many teams have had the opportunity in this tournament to win three games three times in a row. That's definitely something to be proud of," Johnson said.

The 10th-seeded Hawks scooped up nearly every rebound in sight, generating much of their offense on second-chances. Kelly's size advantage took its toll, but many of those rebounds came from Kelly's hard work and aggressive play.

"We've just got to go back to the drawing board," first-year Central coach Drew Church said of his team's rebounding deficiency. "For kids to do something and do something well, it has to be important to them. I question right now if it [rebounding] is important to them. Right now, rebounding is not as important as it needs to be for us."

Unlike in their consolation semifinal, where the Hawks needed every 3-pointer they could muster to squeeze by Woodland, Kelly's offense flowed through the post on Saturday.

Six-foot-3 center Spencer Ayers and 6-2 Dallas Tew helped set the tone.

Kelly did finish with five 3-pointers, but did not come close to the long-range shooting exhibition Tyler Thurman put on against the Cardinals when he drained eight treys. Thurman and Josh DeBrock each had two 3-pointers for the Hawks against Central.

"Offensively, we talked about the first three possessions being key," Johnson said. "We wanted to establish an inside game, and we did a good job of that all day long."

While the Tigers (6-7) shuffled in 6-5 Adam Wendel and 6-7 Landon Ewers, neither Central center could stop Ayers down low.

Ayers led the Hawks' balanced scoring with 16 points.

"Spencer's a key for us," Johnson said. "If we can get it into him, we feel pretty confident he can put it in the hole. For the most part today, when he got it he got something done."

With little help inside, the Tigers had to rely on the outside shooting and dribble penetration of its guard trio of Kerry Walker, Jajuan Bell and George Hamilton. Walker, Central's leading scorer, was quiet for much of the game. The senior managed just three first-quarter points and nine overall.

Bell kept the Tigers in the game in the opening half, scoring 12 points in the second quarter. Central enjoyed a brief first-quarter lead but trailed for much of the first half, and was down 28-24 at intermission.

Johnson said they keyed defensively on stopping Walker and Bell, and he was pleased with how his team responded.

"We let Bell score a little more than we wanted to and let him get some penetration, but we really wanted to make sure we didn't let both hurt us," he said. "If one of them was going to hurt us, that's OK. We just couldn't let both of them kill us."

Central got the score within 28-26 with the opening bucket of the second half, but Kelly responded with a 6-0 run. The Hawks' lead lead ballooned to 10 points at 40-30 late in the quarter. The Tigers were able to claw the lead back to 40-36 at the end of the third.

Kelly's superiority on the boards kept the Hawks on top, though, with a stretch midway through the fourth where Kelly scored on putbacks on three straight possessions. Central could not stop Kelly's inside game when it needed to late in the game.

"It's something we have to deal with, the height," Church said, "but the thing I can't deal with is the lack of effort we showed sometimes. No matter how tall you are, or how quick you are, you can always give effort. What I have to do is make sure we give effort every night.

"Coach Johnson had his team ready to play tonight. They played harder, they played smarter and they played better. They were the better team today."

Bell led the Tigers with 24 points and Hamilton added 16.

DeBrock added 12 points for the Hawks, Kyle Chipman had nine and Tew and Thurman had eight apiece.

Kelly has now won six of seven games as it climbed over the .500 mark at 7-6.

Kelly 63, Central 56

Kelly 13 15 12 23 -- 63

Central 7 17 12 20 -- 56

KELLY (63) -- Spencer Ayers 16, Dallas Tew 8, Josh DeBrock 10, Kyle Chipman 9, Tyler Thurman 8, Zach Hamm 6, James Miller 4. FG 23, FT 13-20, F 14 (3-pointers: Thurman 2, DeBrock 2, Chipman 1. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (56) -- Jajuan Bell 24, George Hamilton 16, Kerry Walker 9, Anthony Watts 5, Shane Nolen 2. FG 19, FT 13-18, F 19 (3-pointers: Bell 3, Walker 1, Watts 1. Fouled out: Adam Wendel)