Bell City reaches final of Stoddard Co. tourney

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Nick Niemczyk scored a season-high 34 points as the Bell City boys basketball team raced to a 93-70 win over Advance in the semifinals of the Stoddard County Activities Association tournament Thursday.

"We're starting to figure out our groove a little bit better on offense -- what we're looking to give, what we're looking to do," Bell City coach Brian Brandtner said. "When you get the shots you want, a lot more times than not you're going to score."

Bell City (14-3) also got a huge game from Will Bogan, who finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds on 10-of-13 shooting from the field.

"Will kept his head tonight," Brandtner said. "He had guys hanging on him all night long. He stayed strong. When Will gets his hands on the ball, it's his. He did a great job around the basket, did a great job rebounding. He carried us for a couple of quarters tonight, it seemed like."

The Cubs outrebounded Advance 26-10 in the first half -- 10 of those coming from Bogan -- as they took a 52-27 lead to the locker room.

"We expected a little bit better out of ourselves," Advance coach Joe Shoemaker said. "They really hurt us on the boards first half. Their defense is real good. We struggled in the first half getting into our offensive sets. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half.

"If you turn the ball over and don't rebound against great teams like that, that shoot the ball well, you're going to be in trouble."

Bell City also shot 57 percent (24-for-42) from the field in the first half, compared to just 35 percent (12-of-34) for the Hornets in the opening 16 minutes.

The Cubs took a 20-8 lead on Niemczyk's basket with 2:27 left in the opening period -- his 11th point of the game.

The Hornets cut Bell City's lead to 28-22 on Daryl Wade's two free throws with 6:31 left until halftime, but the Cubs responded with an 8-0 run bookended by a pair of Bogan buckets to retake control of the game.

Jeremy Limbaugh scored 20 points to pace Advance, while James Masters and Alex Steil each tossed in 13 and Wade finished with 10. Blaine Stewart added 11 for Bell City to join Bogan and Niemczyk in double figures.

The Cubs will face Puxico for the SCAA title 8:30 tonight. Puxico downed Dexter, 65-56, to reach the finals