Scott City’s size, speed too much for Kelly in first-round action at Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament

The No. 5 seed Scott City Rams defeated the No. 12 seed Kelly Hawks 93-31 in the opening round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 26, at the Show Me Center.

Four different Rams scored in double figures with Kaden Lowery leading the way with 26 points. Max Snider and Kobe Watson added 16 and 13, respectively.

With all three boys north of six feet tall, they went in the paint and scored whenever they wanted and Kelly could do nothing about it.

Scott City earned its second win of the year over the close rival Hawks. Rams head coach Mark Dannenmueller said he was happy with how the game went, especially against a rival.

“We played hard and got the things done that we’ve been coaching. They shared the ball well, guarded well and did a lot of things well,” Dannenmueller said. “I’m OK with how we shared the ball, but we made the right play every single possession. I know we had some turnovers, but that's what I liked the most.”

The lone bright spot for the Hawks was midway through the second quarter when Ross Peters reached the 1,000-point mark. Kelly simply was smaller than Scott City and did not help itself, turning the ball over way too much.

Scott City now faces Notre Dame at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27, while Kelly will get Delta in the consolation quarterfinals at 9 a.m. that day.

Dannenmueller said the Bulldogs are a good team and it will be a tough battle to reach the semifinals.

“Hopefully we can show up and play well. They're well-coached, skilled and experienced. I think they got pretty much everybody back from last year, and it's gonna be a tough one for us,” Dannenmueller said. “It'll be the hardest game we've played so far this year. We’re gonna have to play well to compete with them. I don't know what we can do better, just try to go out there and do the best we can.”