EAST PRAIRIE - The Kelly Hawks basketball team took another step towards an improbable conference championship with a 56-48 road win over the East Prairie Eagles on Tuesday.
The Hawks, now 6-14 overall and 4-0 in the Scott-Mississippi Conference, have two games conference games left. They host Delta next Tuesday at 6:30 and they will travel to Oran the following Thursday.
At East Prairie, the Hawks trailed by eight points with about three minutes left in the game but they rallied to pull out the victory.
Kelly out-scored the Eagles 22-9 in the fourth quarter.
East Prairie led 16-6 after one quarter and still led 25-24 at the half. They extended their lead to 38-34 entering the fourth quarter.
Kelly was just 1-of-14 from the field in the first quarter.
"We just couldn't get it to fall early," said Kelly head coach Nick Lanpher. "The ball just wasn't bouncing our way. We came out in the fourth quarter and they were hitting those 3s. It was unbelievable how well they shot."
The Eagles canned nine 3-pointers on the night led by Josh Shoffner's four and Matt Boyer's three. Shoffner and Boyer led the team with 12 and 11 points respectively.
"We went to a man-to-man late in the fourth quarter and we finally got it turned around," said Lanpher. "The boys didn't give up and it paid off. We picked up our intensity in the fourth."
Tyler Schlosser led the Hawks with 15 points. Major Burger added 13 points and Barry Zeigler had 12. Hawk standout Michael Romas played in his first game since before Christmas and finished with seven points.
Kelly's junior varsity won 63-39 over East Prairie to improve to 16-7 on the season and 4-0 in conference play.
DEXTER -- Dexter ended its regular season on Friday with a 70-63 win over Doniphan.
The Bearcats held just a two-point lead with two minutes left in regulation, but went to a delay and were able to hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away late.
While it was a win, Dexter head coach Eric Sitze wasn't pleased with how his team ended the regular season.
"We can't win a district with the way we're playing right now," said Sitze. "We're just not playing very good team defense. Fortunately, we don't play Friday and we have some days here where we can work on that."
Kyle Christian led the Bearcats with 21 points. Chris Carr scored 18 and Chad Gill finished with 10.
Danny Kellas paced Doniphan with 18.
"We're glad to get the regular season over with, and we're still confident," said Sitze. "Hopefully we can approach districts like it's a new season, and get back to the way we were playing earlier in the year."
Dexter played the game without Matt Christian, who is nursing a knee injury. His prognosis is day-to-day.
Doniphan (10-13) will host North County on Friday. Dexter (22-3) will face Fredericktown in the first round of district play on Tuesday at Sikeston.
CHAFFEE -- Chaffee's 14-point margin in the middle quarters keyed its Mississippi Valley Conference win over Delta. Chase Eskew led Chaffee (6-15, 3-2) with 19 points, followed by James Reischman's 17 and Brent Thomason's 11.
"I was proud of the guys tonight," said Chaffee head coach David Mirly. "It's a big cross-town rivalry, and we executing our gameplan perfectly. Our intensity was extremely high, this was the best game we've played all season. I feel like we're peaking at the right time."
Delta (8-14, 2-2) was paced by four players in double figures: Lance Kinder (13), Craig Bock (12), Joey Keys (12) and Brent Menz (12).
"We're feeling real good about ourselves now," said Mirly. "The kids are really working hard, and they're starting to get some wins for it."
Chaffee will travel to Oran on Friday, while Delta hosts Leopold.
"Oran may set us back to reality real fast, but we're going to go over there and give them our best shot," said Mirly.
"We're not going to go over there and just give up."
BERNIE -- Bernie defeated Richland in a key matchup with 1A District 2 seeding ramifications Tuesday night, 70-54.
Chad Wooldridge led the scoring attack for Bernie with 22 points, followed by Marcus Johnson with 20.
Robert Johnson hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points. For Richland, Sherome Cole led the charge with 18 points, followed by Josh McMullin with 13.
Bernie (15-6, 4-2) will travel to Bloomfield on Friday.
Richland (9-13, 1-3) will host Woodland on Friday.
ADVANCE -- In a game with major implications for the upcoming Class 1A, District 2 boys basketball tournament, Oran rallied past host Advance 59-56 Tuesday night.
Oran trailed by two points when Matt Seyer nailed a 3-point basket with 25 seconds left to put the Eagles up by one.
After Advance missed a pair of shots, Oran's Patrick Friga hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left for a three-point lead. The Hornets then missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Ryne Wood led the Eagles (16-6) with 19 points. Friga had 16 and Nathan Seyer added 15.
Andrew Jenkins pumped in a game-high 23 points for the Hornets (15-8). Oran will host Chaffee on Friday while Advance travels to Scott Central.
CHARLESTON -- Cape Central went 11-for-20 from 3-point range but was outrebounded 41-22 as Charleston posted a SEMO Conference victory.
Jordy Mixon and Kewain Gant scored 19 points apiece to lead the Bluejays (14-7, 4-3). Ashton Farmer added 10.
Matt Cardin paced the Tigers (4-19, 0-8) with 21 points. Ryan Delph had 13 and Jay Ruark 11.
Charleston will travel to Poplar Bluff on Friday while Cape Central travels to play St. Louis University High.
OAK RIDGE -- St. Vincent (11-8), behind 29 points from Tyler Wengert, cruised to victory.
Jeff Cowan and Adam Hahs led Oak Ridge (7-15) with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
LEOPOLD -- Kevin Holzum poured in 30 points, Scott VanGennip had 24 and Josh Van de Ven added 14 as Leopold (8-13, 3-1) rolled to a Mississippi Valley Conference victory.
Zalma (2-16, 0-4) got 16 points from Steven McCain, 13 from Chad Wiseman and 13 from Brad McKlin
MARBLE HILL -- Luke Johnson scored 12 points and Travis Benfield had 11 but Woodland (9-11, 0-5) still dropped a Stoddard County Conference contest.
Some information in this roundup was provided by SEMO News Service.