Lions roll past Southland to make consolation finals

CAMPBELL, Mo. -- The Senath-Hornersville Lions dominated the middle quarters to turn a seven-point first-quarter lead into a 69-29 rout of the Southland Rebels in the consolation semifinals of the Campbell Christmas Tournament here Tuesday evening.

In later first-round action at the CCT, No. 2 seed Campbell routed Naylor 74-43 and third-seeded Neelyville downed Delta C7 80-47.

In the early game, the Lions (2-5) outscored Southland 46-13 in the second and third periods to take a 59-22 lead to the fourth quarter.

"We played very well tonight," Senath-Hornersville coach Shane Jordan said. "We played good as a team and went very deep on the bench."

The Lions had nine players score on the evening, led by Michael Gardner's 14 points and 11 points each from Matt Fouts and Wes Westmorelan. Also, Senath-Hornersville's bench outscored the Rebels' reserves 29-5.

With the victory, the Lions also surpassed last season's total.

"We played well early," said Jordan. "We tried to keep hammering down on them so we could get that big lead and get the W."

Senath-Hornersville will face either Delta C7 or Naylor for the consolation title on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Neelyville 80, Delta C7 47
In the late game Tuesday, the No. 3 Tigers scored the game's first 17 points and never looked back as they downed the Chargers and advanced to a semifinal matchup with the host school.

Neelyville led 26-13 after one period and 50-28 at the half before enforcing the mercy rule in the final period.

Despite the loss, Delta C7 coach Nathan Baker was pleased with how his team played.

"I was pleased with the effort," Baker said. "The effort was there. It was kind of one of those games that you take lot out of it and learn from it. ... Neelyville is a well-coached team and they're very disciplined."

Damien Flowers led Delta C7 (1-5) with a game-high 18 points, while Devan Ford added nine.

Curtis Hansen's 15 points paced the Tigers, while Austin Russom, Dustin Ritter and Jeremy Young each had 14 and Dustin Spencer finished with 11.

Campbell 74, Naylor 43
In the middle game Tuesday, the host Camels raced out to a 49-15 halftime lead and were never challenged by the seventh-seeded Eagles.

Justin Fowler led Campbell with 22 points, while Tyler Deen finished with 11.

Cory Kovach paced Naylor with 14 points.

Reindeer Holiday Tournament
Cooter 74, Holcomb 65
At Clarkton, the third-seeded Wildcats jumped out to a 25-point first-half lead and held off a furious Hornets charge to advance to the consolation finals.

Zach Williams led Holcomb with 22 points, while Steven Kirkpatrick added 12 and Alex Johnson finished with 11.

Johnathan Boone's 20 points led Cooter, while Zach Watkins tossed in 19, Shane Henning chipped in 15 and Kelly Wells put in 14.