Semoball

With five in double figures, Neelyville beats East Carter

By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

ELLISNORE -- Calling the Neelyville Tigers' five top-scorers from Friday night's game the "Fantastic Five" might be a bit of a stretch because they more than likely don't have any super-human powers.

But as a collective unit, Neelyville put five players in double figures in points as their well-balanced offensive attack defeated East Carter 77-37 in an Ozark Foothills Conference matchup.

The high-scoring five-some was led by junior Jeremy Young who had a game-high 16 points. Young was followed by Austin Russom (14 points) Curtis Hansen (11), Michael Cowin (11) and Garrett Griffin (10). Add in Dakota Wallace's eight points and Alex Bolt's seven and Neelyville couldn't have asked for a better night of spreading the wealth on the offensive end. Young also added rebounds for a double-double.

"We just tried to go out and try and hit the open man," Neelyville coach Jerry Rich said afterwards. "We're not looking for individual points; we're looking for a team effort. Tonight, we just tried to come out and get on the board quick and early because the last couple games we struggled offensively in the first quarter."

The Tigers (2-1, 1-1 OFC) did just that as they jumped all over the Redbirds from the get go. Neelyville got off to a quick 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.

As Neelyville continued to find the hoop, East Carter had some luck pounding it in the lane as they got back to within six points, 20-14. Junior post player Kevin Barton had six points for East Carter in the first quarter.

But that's the closest the Redbirds (0-6, 0-3) got as Neelyville went on a 22-2 run at the end of the first quarter into the second to pull away.

Neelyville wouldn't come out of that stretch or the game, for that matter, without a couple unfortunate injuries. The Tigers only had three players on the bench to begin with and it got shorter starting with Bolt leaving the game after getting knocked in the mouth early in the second quarter. Bolt had a career-high seven points when he left.

Neelyville then lost Garrett Griffin in the second half after he re-aggravated a previous knee injury.

Bolt was inserted into the starting lineup Friday because of defensive prowess, according to Rich.

"I hate to see him get hurt, but he's like a hockey player -- he'll play through," Rich said of Bolt. "I told him he's gotta try to get healed--we have a tournament next week."

Griffin left the game with 10 points scored, all on two-pointers.

"I thought he wouldn't be playing until Christmas," Rich said of Griffin. "He's trying to come back a little early and I hope he's not trying to put too much on it. He had knee surgery after baseball season but I think he'll be fine."

Neelyville went on to outscore East Carter 26-17 in the second half with a running clock the entire fourth quarter.

East Carter was led by Barton, who had a season-high 13 points.

"Kevin, he's a newcomer to the game, last year he played on junior varsity," East Carter head coach Preston Hoagland said. "He works hard, he's a big body down low and when he figures it all out he's gonna be pretty tough."

Along with Barton's 13 points, junior Monty Stiegler added nine points.

Although his squad was winless last season and are off to a 0-6 start this season, Hoagland feels his team could come together.

"We execute a little better than last year's squad," Hoagland added. "Last year, we struggled but this year we'll run a play and set screens. We're just having trouble getting it to fall."

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