RAMS TAKE ANGER OUT ON HAYTI

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City High's boys basketball team vented any frustration that remained from last week in a 96-65 waxing of Hayti Friday night.

Scott City coach Derek McCord gushed much praise for his Rams, who rebounded nicely from their stunning 20-point loss to Kelly last Saturday in the championship game of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament.

And they deserved it.

Six Rams scored in double figures, led by Jon Beck's 25 points. Tim Lowery, a 5-foot-10 senior point guard, scored 17 points and distributed an impressive 19 assists.

Coming off the bench, insta-spark Howie Stubenrauch finished with 13 points, five rebounds and one shot to the jaw, which led to the ejection of a Hayti player. Ryan Weatherspoon and Lance Amick each had 11 points and Blaine Bruce added 10 on 5 of 5 shooting.

"I felt like after the Kelly game our guys would come out and play well," said McCord, whose Rams are 17-2 and ranked No. 10 in Class 2A. "We had a lot of people step up tonight; we had some good balance. We were able to get a lot of transition buckets in the first half."

While McCord spread kudos, Hayti coach Jason Skelton took the Fifth.

Maybe it was his team's 6-percent 3-point shooting. Perhaps it was the 48-25 rebounding deficit.

Whatever it was, it prompted Skelton to refuse to speak to a reporter after the game and make haste in boarding the team bus and departing for a long trip back to the Bootheel.

With 5:30 left in the first quarter, Scott City led 9-6. Then the Rams went on a 14-4 run, with six straight points by Bruce, and led 23-10 with 2:30 left in the period.

The Rams held a 29-17 first-quarter advantage, which stretched to 49-31 at halftime.

Scott City led 72-55 after three quarters and sealed the flogging by outscoring Hayti 24-10 in the fourth period as the Indians missed all 10 3-point tries.

Although they may not have needed it, a bit of modern technology -- the video camera -- made the Rams especially ready for the game.

"We controlled the boards, and by controlling the boards we were able to run our fastbreak," McCord said. "The last time we played them, the game was in the 60s, 60-49. We looked at the tape and we noticed that they sent five guys to the boards, so we tried to establish some boxing out. We felt like we were well prepared."

For Hayti (11-6), which made just 1 of 16 3-pointers, shot 36 percent from the field and turned the ball over 18 times, Kyle Jones had a team-high 23 points. Carlos Larry added 14 points and nine rebounds.