Eagles surge by South Pemiscot

East Prairie's M.C. Williams tries to put up a shot over the outstretched arms of South Pemiscot's Bruce Smith Friday night. David Jenkins, Staff

EAST PRAIRIE -- On a very special night at East Prairie High School on Friday night, former Eagle standout Tony Jones was honored in front of his home crowd by having his No. 44 jersey retired.

"It was a special night," East Prairie head coach Matt Schonoff said. "We wanted to honor the accomplishments that he (Jones) had last year and the year before and basically his whole high school career. The main thing is that he is an awesome human being, he's a great humanitarian and on top of all that, he's a great basketball player. We are very, very happy and proud that he was an East Prairie Eagle."

And on top of all that celebration, the Eagles still pulled out a victory against the South Pemiscot Bulldogs, 60-49.

Former East Prairie standout Tony Jones holds up his jersey that was retired during a pregame ceremony Friday night. Jones is currently attending Missouri Baptist where he is redshirting on the basketball team and is also a member of the track team. David Jenkins, Staff

East Prairie started out with a 15-9 lead after the first quarter but, found themselves down 22-19 at the break.

But, a huge third quarter for the Eagles propelled them to a six point advantage going into the fourth quarter.

"The past two games we've come out a little flat in the first half," Schonoff said. "We've made some adjustments at half time and come out and really score a lot of points. That's what happened tonight."

That trend continued in the fourth quarter for the Eagles as they outscored the Bulldogs 17-12 in the final period.

East Prairie's Dustin Caldwell puts up a shot while South Pemiscot's Charles Taylor attempts a block Friday night. David Jenkins, Staff

"The first half saw a lot of contested jump shots," Schonoff said. "Jump shots out of rhythm and jump shots not in tune with the offense. The second half we got out in transition and we scored lay-ups. We got the ball inside and went to the free throw line and converted some free throws."

Another big reason for the turnaround, was the defense that the Eagles showed. They forced 21 turnovers throughout the game with 15 of those being steals.

"The biggest thing for us tonight (Friday) was our defense," Schonoff said. "Our defense was outstanding tonight. It just goes to show that when our guys listen to what we need to do it works and that we can really play good defense. And that's what happened tonight (Friday)."

Conner Scott, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Ryan Jones, who scored six points, were all around the glass with 24 rebounds combined. They both recorded 12 boards a piece.

The Eagles managed to out-rebound South Pemiscot 33-30.

"We crashed the boards," Schonoff said. "When you shoot as many lay-ups and short perimeter jumpers as we do, we're going to have some guys in there to get the boards. Especially in the second half."

M.C. Williams added 14 points and Sam Johnson chipped in with 13 for the Eagles. Bruce Smith led the Bulldogs with 16 points and seven rebounds while Caleb McIntyre scored 14 points.

East Prairie's (3-2) next game will be at Oran to take on the Eagles on Tuesday at 6 p.m.