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East Prairie's third quarter lift them past Rams
SCOTT CITY -- Picking up their second win in as many days, the East Prairie Eagles rode a hot third quarter Friday night to a 76-54 decision over Scott City.
"We started a little sluggish," East Prairie head coach Casey Knight said. "Which this week is sort of hectic, being out of school and everything. You're out of your routine with a week off. We actually played last night at Cooter and sort of did the same things and didn't really show up until the fourth quarter.
"You just never know with high school kids how they're going to come out and respond, but tonight I was proud of them. We picked it up quicker and in the second half we started putting it on them a little bit."
Despite leading most of the first two quarters, the Eagles (9-9) could never shake the Rams (6-12) and took a 26-22 advantage into halftime. Coming out of the break, however, East Prairie put together their best quarter of the night to build a double-digit lead going into the fourth.
After trading shots with Scott City to open the half, the Eagles got a 3-pointer from Dustin Bryars to kick off a run where they scored nine straight points in under two minutes.
That rally, coupled with a 5-1 run to finish the quarter, helped East Prairie outscore the Rams 26-12 in the period and take an 18-point lead into the fourth.
"I told the kids at halftime the two ways to beat the zone," Knight said. "The first is to beat it up the floor. We were having problems executing against the zone so let's get out and run and beat them up the floor. No matter what offense we're on, No. 2, let's offensive rebound. I thought we did a good job with both of those things. You get some easy leak outs and some easy offensive put-backs, then your defense, in turn, becomes better."
A 3-pointer from Seth Bays followed by a bucket from Brandon Evans gave the Eagles a 23-point advantage, 57-34, with just over a minute into the final period. Scott City prevented the Eagles from pulling away any further, but East Prairie held on for the 76-54 final.
Leading the Eagles' cause, senior Damon Tipler had a game-high 23 points, scoring all but three before the fourth quarter and going 6 of 8 from the free throw line. Bryars finished with 13 points while Bays and Mack Marcum scored nine points each.
"We get beat in one quarter it seems like every game," Rams' head coach Mark Dannenmueller said, whose team starts a combined four freshman and sophomores. "In our last game we got beat by 13 in one quarter and ended up losing by 18 or 19. The last time we played them they outscored us by 13 in the first and then we're right there with them, down eight, going into the fourth. It's just been one quarter that's been killing us. It's frustrating because we haven't been able to figure it out yet."
For the Rams, freshman Dylan Keller had a team-high 20 points. Braden Cox added 13 points to Scott City's cause.
| E. Prairie | 14 | 12 | 26 | 24 | -- | 76 |
| Scott City | 9 | 13 | 12 | 20 | -- | 54 |
EAST PRAIRIE (65) -- Seth Johnson 4, Seth Bays 9, Dustin Bryars 13, Brett Ellis 8, Mack Marcum 9, Damion Tipler 23, Deverance Jones 2, Cade Douglas 4, Brandon Evans 4. FG 30, FT 11-14, F 15. (3-pointers: Bays 2, Bryars 1, Ellis 1, Tipler 1. Fouled out: none.)
SCOTT CITY (54) -- Dylan Keller 20, Brennen Job 2, Trent Pobst 6, Isiah Berry 6, Brock Uelsmann 5, Braden Cox 13, Tyler Rogers 1. FG 22, FT 7-14, F 13. (3-pointers: Keller 2. Fouled out: Pobst.)