Hawks earn signature win over East Prairie during Scott-Miss. opener

Kelly's Ty Householder attempts a shot against East Prairie Tuesday during the first round of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament at Oran High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

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ORAN -- For a team in the midst of a culture change under first-year head coach Ryan Garnett, the Kelly Hawks took a big step forward Tuesday night against East Prairie.

Playing the fourth-seeded Eagles in the opening round of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament, the fifth-seeded Hawks fought back from a double-digit second half deficit for a 70-66 win that propels Kelly into the semifinals.

"This was a big stepping stone for Kelly Hawks basketball," Garnett said. "We've been making progress all year, working hard in practice and constantly improving. It's all about pride, community and program and our guys are feeling it now more than probably any game this year."

Like so many seasons before, the Hawks (6-10) looked to be headed for an early elimination when East Prairie (9-7) took a six-point halftime lead and stretched it to 10 points, 40-30, midway through the third quarter.

In the final three minutes of the quarter, however, Kelly was able to put together a 15-3 run that had them in the driver's seat heading into the fourth.

A large part of that momentum swing came at the hands of junior Ty Householder.

After a relatively quiet first quarter, Householder broke out for 23 points in the second half to finish with 29 points on the night.

Of those 23 points, nine points came during the Hawks' game-changing run as he hit three of his game-high five 3-pointers. That included back-to-back threes in the final 18 seconds to put his team ahead 49-45 entering the final quarter.

"I had a conversation with Ty on the bus on the way here," Garnett said. "I said, 'Look, you're the leader. Everyone feeds off you. I don't want you getting too excited, too low with the lows or too high with the highs and just be a leader.' He did that. We've been encouraging him."

Despite a strong late push by East Prairie, the Hawks hung tight to their newfound advantage until the final buzzer. They extended their lead to a game-high 10 points, 63-53, with 3:30 to play.

Kelly's lead remained at eight points, 68-60, with 1:51 remaining off Householder's final 3-pointer before the Eagles' final push brought them back within a possession.

Much of East Prairie's comeback strategy relied on pressuring the Hawks as they tried to wear down the clock.

East Prairie's Alex Cowgill attempts a shot against Kelly Tuesday during the first round of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament at Oran High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

The result was two-straight Kelly turnovers, the last of which allowed Seth Bays to hit a pair of free throws to cap a 6-0 run that brought the Eagles within a basket, 68-66, with 46 seconds left on the clock.

"(Garnett) doing a good job there and definitely improving that program, but they haven't been in that situation," East Prairie head coach Casey Knight said of the final minutes. "So we were able to pressure. We used the same pressure in the first half and they handled it just fine. It's a just a matter of they haven't been in that situation so they panicked a little bit."

A missed front end of a Kelly one-and-one allowed the Eagles to collect the rebound before Bays came down the court and launched a potential game-winning 3-pointer.

Bays' shot from the top of the arc rimmed off with the Eagles retaining possession out of bounds with 18 seconds remaining. Fouled on the inbound, Brandon Evans missed a pair of game-tying free throws with Kelly grabbing the rebound.

Forced to foul, East Prairie watched Householder sink two shots from the foul line with 9.6 seconds to play to make it a 4-point game.

A steal by Kelly junior Levi Alsup on the Eagles' next possession iced the game.

"Credit Kelly, they hit some big shots," Knight said. "They shot the ball really well the second half and we shot the ball a little better in the first half. The roles were flipped there. Our defense broke down a lot and they took advantage of it and hit some big shots.

"In the first half we'd get ahead six points or so, but never could really put the nail in the coffin. In the third quarter it was the same way and then half way through momentum swung and we didn't answer the call."

Leading the Eagles was a 33-point effort by Bays that included 24 points in the first half alone. Cooling off after the break he collected just two field goals in the final two quarters.

Evans was second on the team with 20 points despite missing significant minutes to foul trouble.

Kelly will face top-seeded Scott County Central in the semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m. at Oran High School.

EAST PRAIRIE (66) -- Seth Bays 33, Mack Marcum 7, Brett Ellis 2, Cade Douglas 4, Brandon Evans 20. FG 25, FT 11-19, F 16. (3-pointers: Bays 4, Marcum 1. Fouled out: none.)

KELLY (70) -- Maurice Davis 12, Kade Proctor 7, Ty Householder 29, Dalton Huffman 4, Cayden Williams 3, Levi Alsup 4, Jacob McClain 2, Conner Dittlinger 9. FG 26, FT 10-14, F 18. (3-pointers: Proctor 2, Householder 5, Williams 1. Fouled out: none.)

Oran 74, Chaffee 29

ORAN -- With a 32-point lead by halftime, third-seeded Oran cruised to a 74-29 win over sixth-seeded Chaffee.

Hunter Schlosser's 22 points led the way as he went 10 of 15 (66 percent) from the field. Schlosser also added four rebounds, five steals and three assists to his team's cause.

Max Priggel finished with 18 points while Jacob Priggel contributed 12 points.

As a team Oran shot 33 of 59 (55 percent) from the floor.

For Chaffee, Aaron Finney scored nine points.

Oran will play Scott City in the semifinals Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at Oran High School.

ORAN (74) -- Thomas Trankler 2, Max Priggel 18, Jacob Priggel 12, Preston Hahn 2, Hunter Schlosser 22, Jason Bennett 9, Garrison Mangels 5, Anthony Pobst 4. FG 33, FT 5-10, F 10. (3-pointers: Max Priggel 2, Schlosser 1. Fouled out: none.)

CHAFFEE (29) -- Brandon Ivester 4, Ryan Jobe 3, August Knutson 5, Dalton Flanigan 3, Gage McMullin 5, Aaron Finney 9. FG 10, FT 2-7, F 9. (3-pointers: Ivester 1, Jobe 1, Flanigan 1, McMullin 1, Finney 3. Fouled out: none.)

Scott City 87, Delta 10

ORAN -- The second-seeded Scott City Rams ran away from seventh-seeded Delta for an 87-10 win.

Braden Cox led the way with 17 points while Tyler Rogers, Brock Uelsmann, Trent Pobst and Dylan Keller contributed 10 points each.

SCOTT CITY (87) -- Dylan Keller 10, Brennen Job 2, Trent Pobst 10, Drew Short 6, Austin Spriggs 8, Nick Bickings 2, Isiah Berry 4, Jordan Kluesner 10, Braden Cox 17, Tyler Rogers 10. FG 39, FT 7-8, F 6. (3-pointers: Keller 2. Fouled out: none.)

DELTA (10) -- Charlie Ledbetter 5, Jeremy Perry 4, Triston Perry 1. FG 4, FT 1-4, F 8. (3-pointers: Ledbetter 1. Fouled out: none.)