Bell City edges Vianney

Monday, December 12, 2005
Bell City's Phillip Gross (22) runs the baseline.

PERRYVILLE -- The Bell City Cubs escaped the Perry Park Center with a 43-41 victory over Vianney (St. Louis) Saturday afternoon in one of several thrilling boys basketball games at the second annual Heartland Hoopfest.

In the day's third contest, the Cubs' Blaine Stewart intercepted a full-court, inbounds pass with 2.3 seconds remaining in the game and ran out the clock to seal his team's fifth straight win.

This victory was a sweet one for Bell City (5-1), a Class 1 team, as it ended the Class 5 Golden Griffins' winning steak at two games. The last large school the Cubs faced resulted in a 63-53 defeat to defending Arkansas Class 5A champion West Memphis in the Riverbend Classic at New Madrid County Central High School.

"It was just one of those things where we had to grind out a win against a Class 5 team like Vianney with a 4-1 record like us coming in," first-year Cubs head coach Brian Brandtner said. "It's nice. I've never coached a team that's had success this early in the season, but we've been lucky enough to pull out some wins so far."

Bell City's 6-foot-10 junior center William Bogan struggled somewhat, but still finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. He was the only Cub to score in double figures.

The Cubs shot just 31 percent overall from the floor, thanks to an 0-for-18 performance from 3-point range. They won the rebound war 32-22 and committed just 15 turnovers.

"I thought we rebounded well," Brandtner said. "It's just that our offense was stagnant. We weren't moving, we weren't in rhythm and our 0-of-18 from 3-

point range proved that. We didn't hit our shots and to still win, we're happy."

After trading leads several times with Vianney (4-2) in the first half, the Cubs managed to build a 30-22 lead midway through the third quarter, but it didn't hold for long although they never trailed in the second half.

Tied at 36-all, Jeff Liggins sank a difficult shot in traffic to give Bell City the lead for good with 5:50 to go in the game. They increased that lead to 42-36 with 2:33 remaining on Marty Dames' one-handed floater.

However, Vianney sank five straight foul shots to cut the deficit back to one point, 42-41. Bogan then hit the back end of two foul shots with 2.3 seconds to set up the final play.

"Blaine's (Stewart) getting that pass sealed the win for us," Brandtner said. "He just caught the ball and took care of it as time expired."

The lead changed hands eight times in the first half, but Bell City never trailed in the game's final 18 minutes.

Tied at 10-10 after one quarter, Bell City held a 22-20 lead at halftime and a 34-32 lead heading into the final frame.

Phillip Gross added eight points and eight rebounds for Bell City, while Liggins had seven points and four rebounds before fouling out.

Vianney, coming off a win over Chaminade just 14 hours earlier, was led by Tommy Cochran with a game-high 15 points, going 11-of-11 from the foul line.

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