RAMS RIP MALDEN EARLY, WIN 79-56

SCOTT CITY -- A big first-half defensive performance led to a dominating 79-56 victory Tuesday night for Scott City High's boys basketball team.

The Rams led visiting Malden 35-14 at halftime and then cleared their bench in the second half.

"Our first five played extremely well," said Scott City coach Derek McCord, whose team is now 18-2. "We got after them defensively in the first half. They had a lot of trouble getting into their offense. Then in the second half we played everybody."

Jon Beck scored 22 points to lead the Rams while Ryan Weatherspoon added 15. Tim Lowery had a big game with 15 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

Kelly 91, Chaffee 59

BENTON -- Kelly jumped out to a double-figure lead in the first quarter and outscored Chaffee in each of the remaining periods for a comfortable victory at home Tuesday night.

Jim Hulshof scored 25 points to lead Kelly (19-2). Denver Stuckey added 19 points, followed by Jason Glastetter 13, and Ben Klipfel 11.

Josh Hanlon netted 14 for Chaffee (1-15), while Jaimie Dumey tallied 13 and Wayne McAllister scored 10.

Kelly led 24-11 after the first period and held a commanding 46-26 lead by halftime.

Delta 68, Woodland 61

MARBLE HILL -- Garrett DeBrock hit for 34 points and teammate Shawn Kinder popped for 20 as Delta held off host Woodland Tuesday night.

No other Delta player reached double figures in scoring as the Bobcats improved to 13-6.

"DeBrock and Kinder really stepped up and took the game over," said Woodland coach Jennings Wilkinson. "We had a tough time defending them."

David Massa scored 21 points to lead Woodland (12-7) while Corey Yount and Greg Lincoln netted 14 apiece.

Woodland led 21-16 after the opening eight minutes and took a 34-32 lead into halftime. Delta nudged out to a 50-49 lead by the start of the fourth quarter.

"Both team played pretty well and pretty hard," said Wilkinson. "It was just a good-hard close game."

St. Vincent 67, St. Pius 50

PERRYVILLE -- St. Vincent tasted victory for the first time since Dec. 19, ending a 10-game losing streak Tuesday night with a Jefferson County Conference victory over visiting St. Pius.

"We stepped up and played real well tonight," said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. "It was one of our better efforts of the year."

Josh Wheeler led St. Vincent (2-16, 1-5) with 12 points while Kyle Eggers and Ryan Prost had 11 apiece.

The Indians held St. Pius to four points in the first quarter, taking a 12-4 lead. Leading 28-22 at halftime, St. Vincent went on to extend its lead to 42-30 by the end of the third quarter.

Perryville 67, Crystal City 50

CRYSTAL CITY -- Perryville improved to 11-9 by easing to a road victory Tuesday night.

The Pirates were paced by Michael Downen with 16 points and Paul Weinkein with 12.

Perryville led 20-5 after one quarter and pretty much coasted the rest of the way.

Scott County 76, Oran 68

ORAN -- Scott County Central scored the game's final 10 points to win a thriller from host Oran Tuesday night.

The Braves, who finally got back to the .500 mark at 9-9, were led by J'reece Johnson with 24 points and John Fort with 18. Also in double figures were James Jones (12) and Earl Winfield (10).

Oran, which fell to 10-8, got 21 points from Travis Friga, 15 from Chris Nichols and 14 from Billy Loper.

The Eagles held a 68-66 lead with 56 seconds left but the Braves went on a 10-0 run to close out the game.

Bloomfield 50, Advance 40

ADVANCE -- Nick Hutchison scored a game-high 28 points as Bloomfield beat Advance on the road in a Stoddard County Athletic Association game Tuesday.

Bloomfield led 34-31 after three quarters before outscoring Advance (8-11) 16-9 in the fourth period.

Zalma Tournament

ZALMA -- In Zalma round robin tournament play Tuesday night, Marquand beat Leopold 56-42 and Zalma downed Meadow Heights 75-69.

Marquand (12-7) got 19 points from Dusty Stephens and 11 from Eric Hovis.

Leopold was paced by Adam Horrell with 13 points.

The Tigers broke away from a 25-25 halftime tie with an 11-3 third-quarter edge.

Zalma (3-13) was led by Ben Wallace with 20 points, Tim Burchett with 18, Josh Smith with 12 and Cory Coffee with 10.

Kevin Weaver paced Meadow Heights with 25. Justin Brune had 11 and Jeremy Heine 10.

Action will continue Thursday as Zalma plays Leopold at 6:30 p.m. Friday, it will be Leopold vs. Meadow Heights at 6:30 and Marquand vs. Zalma at 8.

BOYS SWIMMING

Central relay qualifies

ST. LOUIS -- In its final chance Tuesday, Cape Central qualified its 200 freestyle relay team for the state meet.

The squad of Jason Owen, Ben Roeger, Eric Yount and Stratton Tingle turned in a time of 1:35.52 during the Country Day qualifying meet.

"That was a big goal of ours, to get this relay qualified," said Central coach Dayna Powell. "Now we've qualified all three relays for the state meet."

The 200 freestyle relay was only one of two events Central competed in Tuesday.

The state meet will be held Feb. 13-14.

WRESTLING

Farmington 40, Jackson 25

JACKSON -- After having a 49-match winning streak snapped earlier in the season, Jackson suffered another dual loss Tuesday night as powerful Farmington prevailed on the Indians' match.

Jackson ended the season with an 8-2 dual record as the Indians prepare for Saturday's Class 4A, District 1 meet that they will host.

"Farmington is just an outstanding team, about like Ste. Genevieve (which beat Jackson earlier)," said Jackson coach Steve Wachter. "They were just a lot better than us tonight.

Jackson got wins from Brett Stroud (103 pounds), Lance Schlick (125), Kyle Huck (140), Kent Langston (189) and Aaron Ross (215). Langston was the most impressive with a 26-second pin.

The Indians' JV closed out a 10-0 season with a 46-27 victory.

Farmington 40, Jackson 25

103 - Brett Stroud (J) pin. Kenneth Green 3:22

112 - Josh Krauss (F) dec. Jason Streiler 9-1

119 - T.J. Hill (F) disq. over Eric Rhodes

125 - Lance Schlick (J) pin. Chris Hartupee 1:42

130 - Josh Buchanan (F) forfeit win

135 - Andy Hogan (F) dec. Kyle Watson 8-4

140 - Kyle Huck (J) maj. dec. Dustin Sales 15-5

145 - Josh Hoehn (F) maj. dec. Jason Goben 21-8

152 - David Womack (F) maj. dec. Mark Wade 12-4

160 - Jeff Bowling (F) tech. pin. Kevin Brunke 26-11

171 - Shawn Dowell (F) dec. Dustin Baker 13-10

189 - Kent Langston (J) pin. Shane Littlejohn :26

215 - Aaron Ross (J) dec. Travis Todd 21-15

HWT - Ryan Todd (F) tech pin. Spencer Hobeck 24-7

JV winners: Kiel Johnson, John Bolen, Josh Denecke, Adam Wachter, Josh Lang, Kyle Heck, Chris Freeman, Tim Spradlin.