North Pem rolls past Southland, into Campbell semifinals

Staff photo by Mike Buhler North Pemiscot's Augustine Rivera (right) tries to take the ball away from Southland's Timmy Teal during Monday's action at the Campbell Christmas tourney. [Click to enlarge]

CAMPBELL, Mo. -- The North Pemiscot Mustangs showed why they were the No. 1 seed at this year's Campbell Christmas Basketball Tournament, racing out to a 38-point halftime lead on the way to a 73-21 rout of Tri-County Conference rival Southland here Monday night.

In other action at Campbell, Armorel, Ark. defeated Senath-Hornersville. At the Clarkton Holiday Invitational, No. 6 Gideon upset third-seeded Cooter 70-65, while seventh-seeded Holcomb lost to Gosnell, Ark. 63-49 and top-seeded Caruthersville rolled past Hayti's junior varsity 110-38.

At Campbell, the Mustangs (6-0) led 25-7 after one quarter and 50-12 at the half.

James Macklin led North Pem with 13 points while Dominic Bryant scored all 12 of his points in the first quarter, Britton Wilson finished with 10 and Peyton Turnage chipped in two.

"It was great to get everyone plenty of playing time," North Pemiscot coach Tim Eskew said. "Our defense was actually better in the second half with our bench.

"I thought James Macklin had a tremendous game defensively and offensively. He was so unselfish with the ball and when he's looking to create shots for other people, he becomes a much more valuable player and we become a better team."

Southland was led in scoring by Kizech Washington and Levi Lackey with six points each.

The Mustangs will take on Armorel in the semifinals on Thursday, while Southland faces Senath-Hornersville this evening at 4:30 p.m. in a consolation game.

Clarkton Holiday Invitational
Gideon 70, Cooter 65
At Clarkton, the sixth-seeded Bulldogs jumped out to a 31-22 halftime lead and made it stand up in the second half to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season and record the upset.

Tim Kelly led Gideon (3-4) with 19 points, while Jordan Landers chipped in 16 and Adam Thurman finished with 11.

Zach Watkins paced Cooter with 22 points, while Johnathan Boone tossed in 18 and Shane Henning added 15.

Gideon will take on Gosnell, Ark. on Thursday, while Cooter faces Holcomb this evening.

Gosnell 63, Holcomb 49
In the late game, the Hornets fell into the loser's bracket with a loss to the second-seeded Pirates.

Tyler Crawford led Holcomb with 10 points, while Alex Johnson and Dylan McCormick each added eight in the loss.