Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Bell City surges ahead of Meadow Heights early, advances to consolation final

The 10th-seeded Meadow Heights Panthers cut their deficit to three points midway through the fourth quarter, but the No. 11 Bell City Cubs answered by closing out the period on a 17-2 run and cruising to a 74-56 win in a consolation semifinal of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Monday at the Show Me Center.

"You don't get second chances to put people away," Bell City coach CJ Hadley said. "I feel like we should have put them away in the first half, but we let them back in the game. ... I feel like us being in shape kind of kind of helped us, too."

Four players reached double figures for the Cubs (5-4), including junior Nate Finney, who finished with a team-high 17 points.

"We don't have someone who can give us 30 every night," Hadley said. "I told the guys in the locker room, 'If we don't play together as a team and all five guys aren't playing well, we won't win games.' If all five are playing well, it's going to be hard to stop us."

Bell City jumped out to an early 11-0 lead before the Panthers (7-4) scored their first points four minutes into the game.

Meadow Heights trailed 21-10 at the end of the first quarter.

"We played poor, no excuses. Give Bell City credit. I think their game is more organized," Meadow Heights coach Mark Verticchio said. "They're real quick."

The Panthers drew closer in the second quarter when the teams combined for 20 turnovers in the period. Meadow Heights trimmed eight points from its deficit, trailing 30-27 at the break.

"I feel like we got really soft with the ball," Hadley said of his team, which had 12 turnovers in the period. "We didn't really take care of the ball like I would like. I feel like a couple bumps and stuff that we didn't get called kind of put us down.

Meadow Heights' Justin McGuire, left, and Lane Baremore surround Bell City's Austin Hicks in the second quarter of a consolation semifinal game, Monday, Dec 29, 2014, during the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center. Bell City won 74-56. (Laura Simon)

"I teach my kids to play without a whistle. I said, 'The referee's not going to call it every time. It might be a foul out there, but you've got to play like there's not one.'"

A deep 3-pointer by Meadow Heights junior Jacob Douglas, who finished with 11 points, cut the Cubs' lead to 44-42 with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter, but a basket by Brandon Abner concluded a 4-0 spurt for Bell City and pushed its lead to 48-42 heading into the final period.

"I'm very disappointed. Obviously I thought we could win," Verticchio said. "I give the kids a lot of credit for coming back, but you just can't do what we did in the first quarter. We didn't rebound throughout the Christmas break. We just tend to stand and let somebody else do it."

Jacob Hunt rattled off seven straight points for Meadow Heights to cut Bell City's lead to 57-54 midway through the fourth. The sophomore Hunt finished with a team-high 24 points and shot 59 percent (10 of 17) from the floor.

"He had not been playing well," Verticchio said about Hunt. "We talked about it, and I just told him to relax. ... He did a nice job. I thought he played a nice game."

Bell City junior Peyton Maddox contributed eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Cole Nichols finished with 14 points and was 6 of 9 from the free-throw line in the final period.

Freshman Logan Yates also had 14 points for the Cubs, which will take on ninth-seeded Oran in the consolation championship at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"Oran's a good team," Hadley said. "It'll be good to get out of here 3-1 in this tournament. That's the big thing right now. It's going to be the team that plays hard and takes care of the ball."

Bell City 21 9 18 26 -- 74

Meadow Heights 10 17 15 14 -- 56

BELL CITY (74) -- Nate Finney 17, Logan Yates 14, Cole Nichols 14, Peyton Maddox 13, Bobby Wright 6, Austin Hicks 4, Brandon Abner 4, Kolten Siebert 2. FG 25-66, FT 22-38, F 15. (3-pointers: Finney 1, Nichols 1. Fouled out: none.)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (56) -- Jacob Hunt 24, Jacob Douglas 11, Justin McGuire 7, Spencer Bragg 6, Lane Baremore 4, Nick Mayfield 2, Devin Wilfong 2. FG 23-60, FT 5-14, F 29. (3-pointers: Hunt 3, Douglas 2. Fouled out: McGuire, Hunt.)