East Prairie cruises by North Pemiscot 81-43

Friday, January 9, 2015
East Prairie's Brandon Evans skies for a layup in front of North Pemiscot's Ethan Elsworth (55) Thursday at East Prairie High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

EAST PRAIRIE -- Even after a week-plus layoff, the East Prairie Eagles showed no signs of rust Thursday night when taking on visiting North Pemiscot.

Thanks to a hot start the Eagles built a commanding 35-point halftime lead before cruising to an 81-43 final.

"It was a good way to get back," East Prairie head coach Casey Knight said. "We played four games in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and had a good tournament, but it didn't end like we wanted it to. We took a little bit of time off and then the last three days we've really worked hard.

"Just trying to do what I call the dirty things like rebounding, boxing out and just playing physical. We really got after it the last three days and it was good to be able to come here and put that to use in a game."

Hitting their first three shots of the night, the Eagles set the tone early on offense while pressuring the Mustangs into several turnovers, many of which came before half court.

Seth Bays hit three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points in the first quarter to give East Prairie a 28-10 lead.

East Prairie's Deverence Jones attempts a shot while North Pemiscot's Tanner Staffey (23) defends Thursday at East Prairie High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

Deverence Jones picked up where Bays left off scoring 10 points in the final eight minutes of the half.

Jones had six points alone during a stretch where the Eagles reeled of 13-straight points to go up 54-19 with 1:58 left before the break.

By halftime East Prairie had bested their 28-point first quarter effort with 30 points in the second quarter to head into the locker room up 58-23.

"The ball was falling and our defense picked up from that," Knight said. "You really want it to be the other way with your defense picking up and leading your offense, but that's something we've been working on. One of the biggest things we've been working is not paying attention to who you're playing. Just go out there and do what we know we can do. It's a mental thing and we've been getting better at it."

With the bench seeing plenty of minutes in the second half the Eagles built out their lead to as many as 40 points and ensured a turbo-clocked fourth quarter.

Leading the Eagles on the night was Brandon Evans, who scored a game-high 21 points in the first three quarters. Brett Ellis scored 16 and Bays finished with 15, all in the first half.

Jones was the fourth Eagle to score in the double figures with 12 points, all of which came before the half. A total of six players contributed at least a pair of baskets.

"The best games we play is when I look at the scorebook and stat sheet and everybody is involved, in the scoring, rebounding and assists," Knight said. "That's the kind of games where we play at our best. There's times we've came in and played teams we know are tough and that's doesn't happen."

The win is East Prairie's third in their last four games and pushes them to 7-2 on the season. Their next test comes tonight when they host the Bloomfield Wildcats at 6 p.m.

East Prairie2830149--81
North Pemiscot1013911--43

EAST PRAIRIE (81) -- Seth Bays 15, Dylan Lingle 3, Mack Marcum 4, Brett Ellis 16, Cade Douglas 1, Deverence Jones 12, Nick Grubbs 7, Brandon Evans 21. FG 33, FT 9-16, F 9. (3-pointers: Bays 3, Lingle 1. Fouled out: none.)

NORTH PEMISCOT (43) -- Devon Payne 13, Keaudre Hathieux 3, Tanner Staffey 12, Josh Wigfall 5, Harry Williams 4, Ethan Elsworth 6. FG 19, FT 2-5, F 15. (3-pointers: Hathieux 1, Staffey 2. Fouled out: none.)

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