Kelly nips SCC's six-man entry 60-57 in Scott-Mississippi final

~ The Hawks defeated the Braves for the third time this season.

Kelly junior Spencer Ayers has saved some of his best games for Scott County Central.

Ayers burned the third-seeded Braves for 27 points on Friday night in the championship of the Scott-Mississippi Conference boys basketball tournament at Chaffee, and the top-seeded Hawks used a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch to pull out a 60-57 win.

The Hawks (12-5) improved to 3-1 against Scott County this year. Ayers had 18 against Scott County in the last meeting and 35 in a win over the Braves at the Christmas Tournament.

"He's hurt them in the past," Kelly coach Corey Johnson said. "We wanted to go into our bread and butter, and that's Spencer."

Confusion over an obscure roster rule left Scott County Central with six players for the tournament.

Scott County coach David Heeb said shortly after Christmas break he submitted what he thought would be a set of names to appear in the program, but he found out at the beginning of the tournament those would be the only six eligible players.

"They didn't want to see us at full strength this week," Heeb said after the championship game.

Even after playing an overtime contest on Thursday in the semifinals, Scott County's six players were all over the court in the championship game. The Braves pressed throughout.

Johnson said he was pleased with the patience of his team, as most of their turnovers came from being too patient instead of rushing things.

"We were very patient, a couple of times that caused some problems for us," Johnson said. "We were too patient. I'd rather be a little slow."

The score was deadlocked, 27-27, at halftime, but Kelly took seemed to take control in the third. The Hawks built a 10-point lead midway through the quarter, and still led 44-38 by the end of the third.

Scott County cut the lead to 55-54 with a little over 2 minutes remaining, and Josh Chamberlain's free throw tied the score 55-55 with 1:24 to go.

Jacob Glastetter hit a 3-pointer on Kelly's next possession to give Kelly a 58-55 lead, and Scott County could not hit a 3-pointer with several chances to tie late.

"I didn't think we got tired in the fourth quarter," Heeb said. "I thought there was a stretch in the third quarter they had some fresh legs and we had to dig deep.

"We made a big step tonight. I don't like moral victories, but you can't ask kids to play harder than they played tonight."

Glastetter finished with 14 points for the Hawks, including a pair of rare 3-pointers.

"He's a kid that works on it every day," Johnson said. "We know he can do it. We have confidence he can do it."

Brandon Ayers added 10 points for Kelly.

Caleb Johnson led the Braves with 23 points, D.D. Gillespie had 15 and Chamberlain had 13. Gillespie had 38 against the Hawks the last time the teams played.

In the junior varsity tournament, Scott City defeated Scott County Central 51-36 in the championship game.

Kelly 60, Scott County Central 57

SCC 8 19 11 19 -- 57

Kelly 10 17 17 16 -- 60

SCOTT COUNTY (57) -- Caleb Johnson 23, D.D. Gillespie 15, Josh Chamberlain 13, Drew Thomas 6. FG 20, FT 15-25, F 15 (3-pointers: Chamberlain 2. Fouled out: none)

KELLY (60) -- Spencer Ayers 27, Jacob Glastetter 14, Brandon Ayers 10, Jordan Felter 4, Tyler Thurman 2, Russell Carroll 3. FG 25, FT 5-10, F 18 (3-pointers: Glastetter 2, Carroll 1, B. Ayers 2. Fouled out: none)