Bell City drops Kelly 78-57

BENTON -- The Bell City Cubs improved their record to 21-4 with a 78-57 win over the Kelly Hawks Friday night.

Bell City jumped out to 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter but the Hawks battled back to cut the Bell City lead to 35-28 at the half.

"We got off to a real good start," said Bell City coach David Heeb.

The Hawks stayed with the Cubs through the third quarter but Bell City pulled away in the fourth behind Dominitrix Johnson's 32 points.

"We played them real close until midway through the fourth quarter," said Kelly coach Nick Lanpher. "We went to a man-to-man and Johnson just went to work on us."

Heeb said a major reason for Johnson's explosion was the play of Derek Pobst. While Pobst didn't score he was responsible for several assists.

"We are trying Derek at the point in order to get Dom more shots," Heeb said. "Derek did a real good job getting people the basketball tonight."

Bell City was hot from the field as they hit 11 3-pointers on the night including five from Zak McIntyre and four from Johnson.

"They shot the ball extremely well," Lanpher said. "I don't think they can play any better than they did tonight."

Bell City will host Scott County Central on Tuesday while Kelly (9-13) will host Delta Tuesday night.

MORLEY - The Scott County Central Braves had a big first half and held on to beat the Advance Hornets 78-62 Friday night.

Scott Central (12-11) built a 39-24 lead at the half and led 58-35 going into the fourth to cruise to the win.

"We got a little winded at the end," said Scott Central coach Melvin Porter. "We need to work on getting in tip-top shape."

The Braves abandoned their full-court pressure defense against the Hornets in order to try a new approach.

"We played man-to-man all night long and didn't press," Porter said. "That might have played a part in us getting tired."

Scott Central was led in scoring by Chris Pullen's 32 points. Jeremy Johnson finished with 15 and Daniel Holmon added 13.

The Braves travel to Bell City Tuesday night.

ESSEX - The Richland Rebels used tough defense to squeak by the Woodland Cardinals 49-48 Friday night.

"It was a good win for us," said Richland coach Doyle Denbow. "Woodland has a good ball club and I think we did an excellent job on defense."

Richland and Woodland went back and fourth throughout the game with the Cardinals holding a 27-26 lead going into the final quarter.

"I think the last quarter we played like we are capable of playing," Denbow said. "(Travis) Benfield is tough. I thought we really worked hard on him."

The smaller Rebels held Benfield, Woodland's leading scorer, to just 14 points in the game.

Richland was led by Corey Moore's 28 points.

Richland's junior varsity was also victorious, downing Woodland 66-59.

Richland (7-15) will play again Tuesday when they travel to Puxico.