Consolation semifinal 2: Kelly pulls away from Oak Ridge

By Rachel Crader ~ Semoball.com

Kelly coach Nathan Wills was not surprised to see his team challenged by the Oak Ridge Blue Jays in the first half of Friday's consolation semifinal in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

"For us, it's been like that this whole tournament. It takes us a half to get going. We're struggling right now to make adjustments on the floor," he said, citing his team's lack of varsity experience.

"I think whenever we get a chance at halftime to make adjustments, we come out a little bit better. We're still working on making adjustments on the fly."

The Hawks made the correct adjustments and raced to a 69-50 victory.

They will face Advance on Saturday in the consolation final.

"We just tried to get it inside more to take advantage of our height," Willis said. "I think early on we tried to take advantage of our shooting ability. We put in a lot of guards early, and saw that we were having some success down low."

Josh DeBrock backed up his 33-point performance against Meadow Heights with 21 points against the Blue Jays.

He said he was confident despite a slim 31-29 at the break against the 15th-seeded team.

"I figured we'd pick it up at halftime and we'd all kick in and come out with a big victory," he said.

While DeBrock is among the tournament's scoring leaders with 69 points in three games -- he was second on the list through two games behind only Bell City's Nick Niemczyk --said his teammates help him post big offensive numbers.

"We all move the ball," he said. "We all cut, move, and somehow it just ends up in my hands and I'm right there underneath the basket, and I score."

KELLY 69, OAK RIDGE 50

KELLY (69) -- Ryan Essner 3, Chris Cooper 13, Josh DeBrock 21, Levi Felter 6, Omar Campos 2, Zach Essner 5, Bryce Faulkner 2, Josh Rodgers 17. FG 26, FT 14-20, F 12 (3-pointers: R. Essner 1, Cooper 1, DeBrock 1. Fouled out: none.)

OAK RIDGE (50) -- Kaz Lange 7, Dylan Abbott 11, Dustin Meyr 5, Garret Light 12, Brett Thomas 5, Logan Mangels 10. FG 18, FT 9-11, F 15 (3-pointers: Lange 1, Abbott 3, Meyr 1. Fouled out: none)