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Fifth-place semifinal 2: Scott City bounces back, Bell City does not

Semoball.com

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Scott City Rams sent No. 2 seed Bell City home from the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament with a 53-55 victory in a fifth-place bracket semifinal.

Shae Simmons scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Rams. Jay Simmons added 18, including one trey.

Both teams had suffered their first losses to the season on Thursday night in the quarterfinals -- Scott City an expected loss but an unexpected 20-point beating from Jackson and Bell City a stunning upset from Cape Central.

Scott City had its outside shooting and also had 12 points inside from senior Alex King.

The Rams went to the free throw line 35 times and made 19.

Bell City had just two players account for 51 of its 55 points. Nick Niemczyk set a new tournament high for this year with 34 points, bettering by one his opening-night mark. He hit five 3-pointers.

Ethan Watkins, who had played at Scott City before transferring last December, scored 17 points with three 3-pointers in his first game against his former team.

SCOTT CITY 63, BELL CITY 55

Scott City	12	20	11	20	--	63
Bell City	13	10	15	17	--	55

Scott City (63) -- John Pinkston 9, Jay Simmons 18, Shae Simmons 19, Caleb Estes 3, Ryan Modglin 2, Alex King 12. FG 19, FT 19-35, F 15 (3-pointers: S. Simmons 5, J. Simmons 1. Fouled out: none)

Bell City (55) -- Ethan Watkins 17, Nick Niemczyk 34, Phillip Gross 3, John Arnold 1. FG 17, FT 12-17, F 24 (3-pointers: Niemczyk 5, Watkins 3. Fouled out: Gross)

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sorry toby, but i don't know what you are going to say about this game. again i reiterate the point that bell city was given too much credit for how good they were too fast. tonight it wasn't the height is was just better guard play. 37 points and six threes between the simmons boys.

Bell city does not have one single impact player save for niemczyk, who is no doubt the second best player and by far and away the best guard in the tournament. I don't know what happened to gross, but he is nowhere near the player he was last year.

Not trying to start a fight or anything but like i said, bell city just does not have the players to match up with the better teams in the tournament. If niemczyk doesn't score 30something a night they are in a fight just to stay in the game.

-- Posted by El Burro on Fri, Dec 28, 2007, at 10:58 PM
well you have to give bell city some credit. having two of their starters hurt, one with stitches in his head and the other one with a broken nose. Not saying thats the reason bell city lost, because its not. they had a very good game, and they didn't get the points they needed from people like phillip gross & marty dames. they are two people that they can depend on for them few extra points, but didn't happend. there were people in the stands saying that bell city should have won, but everyone wins and everyone loses. we will just has to see who comes out on top in regular season. too bad we couldn't see the best rival in southeast missouri play tomorrow night.

-- Posted by redhawks09 on Fri, Dec 28, 2007, at 11:39 PM
i for one love having the christmas tournament at my school's center! go southeast!!!! and this was just a horrible game for bell city really...they r just having a tough time right now ..niemczyk is taking too much heat for shooting the ball..he is probably the best player in missouri.and he gets crap for shooting the ball...not right. and gross is a physical freak in the paint. and he doesnt get the ball wide open. i would likst to know why gross' younger brother doesnt get playing time? and their tallest player..and probably their best post defender, hardly touches the floor..people say he is out of shape but he seems 2 keep up with the action from what i have seen. while that big man is in they seem 2 get alot more rebounds..alex king never scored or got a rebound while this guy was in the game what is going on? the big hairy mountain man they have coming off the bench and playing alot of minutes and doing nothing at all good? people where is our coaching rotations going nowadays?

-- Posted by semofan031 on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 12:54 AM
also ethan watkins was a big show off last night. just because he was playing the school he used to go to for the first time in a year, doesn't mean he needs to shoot the ball everytime he gets it. he was shooting like 5 feet behind the three point line knowing he can't make 'em. he made one, but he was showing off last night. If he would of played like that the night before against Central, Bell City might have won that game. Either play like that all the time, or just stop.

About the big guy & hairy guy. The big guy is only a Sophomore. Hes not strong enough to handle varisty level yet, if you didn't notice last night when he went in. Yes, he goes in on varsity, but its just to try to see what the other team will do. They know hes not strong enough, so they will just keep playing their game. And about the hairy guy, yeah hes good. But this is the first time i've seen him on the bench with Bell City. Hes good, he gets in there and rebounds and shoots the ball well.

-- Posted by redhawks09 on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 7:51 AM
well aside from niemczyk. gross can score the ball, and if you noticed like i did in the scott city game, he was working to get post position and the bell city wingman just were not feending him.. and about the big guy on the bell city bench. he's only a sophomore? wow. and i don't believe he is too weak for varsity play because alex king could not get position at all on this guy. and again as i stated before king never had any points or rebounds while he was in. and he played solid post defense in general you may disagree but this is what i saw. and the big hairy guy that just now is on the bell city bench i don't believe he is usefull at all for the minutes he plays. he is strong but he doesn't rebound well, and he doesn't take good shots he does the same turnaround to his right side each time he shoots the ball

-- Posted by semofan031 on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 12:30 PM
I mentioned this a while back when there was talk of Watkins joining this group. In my personal opinion I felt he was going to hurt the chemistry that Bell City had and last night proved my point. He just doesn't fit in with what made Bell City so good early in the year. I watched them play down at the Riverbend shootout earlier in the year and they are a totally different team now. Watkins has become a disruption to the offense whether its his 30 footers or crazy drives to the bucket, the rest of the team has faded into the background and become uninvolved. The free flow and unselfishness that they played with in New Madrid is not there anymore. Niemyczyk was still scoring 30 then, but it was within the confines of the offense. Now he looks like he is trying to overcompensate and try and will his team on by himself. If Bell City is going to get back to playing as good as they can, its going to be with Johnson on the point and Watkins coming off the bench.

-- Posted by Crash Davis on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 1:41 PM
it doesnt matter.. like i been saying for years... we NEED to get rid of all the little small schools that are (like bell city) ranked #2 and get smoked out the tournament.. lets keep- central, jackson, charleston, notre dame, MAYBE scott county and scott city .. and pick up- sikeston, pop. bluff, cairo ill., id even say perryville!!! but kelly, oran, woodland, advance, bell city, and the others got to go!!!

-- Posted by JHock22 on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 2:43 PM
Okay Mr. JHock. Let's start by saying Bell City won this tournament last year, and if you look and see who has won this tournament in the past the small schools without a doubt contend. Bell City was seeded second for a reason, they won the tournament last year, and were undefeated until their losses in this tournament. What reason did anyone have to put them lower than 2? This tournament gives small schools a chance to compete in a sport with the bigger schools. I personally love seeing these small schools play ND, Cape, Jackson, Charleston even if they do lose by 20-40 points. And at least give Oran the opportunity to play you in something, especially something you can beat them in.

-- Posted by semo2008 on Sat, Dec 29, 2007, at 8:27 PM
i mean seriously people yes bell city had a couple bad games but thats really no reason to be dogging them! there was alot of tension between scott city and bell city and it was all because of watkins but seriously that really is NO reason to be dogging them! they are a really good team and we have all come to know this i mean it would have been awesome if they could have stayed undefeated but they messed it up by having 2 bad games!

-- Posted by randomchick on Mon, Dec 31, 2007, at 9:39 PM
scott city and cape central aren't good at all bell city should have creamed them both

-- Posted by semoskylor on Wed, Jan 2, 2008, at 12:14 AM
Watkins has become a disruption to the offense whether its his 30 footers or crazy drives to the bucket, the rest of the team has faded into the background and become uninvolved.

-- Posted by semoskylor on Fri, Jan 4, 2008, at 11:57 AM
that last post was copied and pasted from crach davis. which is the dumbest thing i have ever seen..wild shots? he normally hit alot of those shots. and as for everyone else being uninvolved he's an excellent passer, the transition from sc to bc is a hard one considering all the weapons bell city has and the mediocre players he had to pass to at scott city. at scott city he was relied on to make alot of shots and score alot of points and at sc those would have been good shots because he was their best player. you are forgetting that this transition is hardest for watkins, and once he and bell city are completly used to and comfortable with each other they will be an excellent team.think about what watkins is going through next time before you open your mouth

-- Posted by semoskylor on Fri, Jan 4, 2008, at 12:00 PM
Watkins did not pass a lot to his team mates at Scott City. He was the most selfish player they had. When he did pass the ball he made good choices but usually didn't choose to do so. They did not rely on him to make the points for the team he relied on himself. Usually other players didn't have a chance to shoot because he wat point guard and the offense was Watkins would dribble down and shoot a 3 pointer missing quite a few shots. AS far as there being tension between the two school I don't think so. Watkins made some pretty bad comments when he departed Scott City about each of him former teammates and named each one specifically and what their faults were. This was quite bold for a player that is average himself. It was best for Scott City when he left.

-- Posted by semofan77 on Fri, Jan 4, 2008, at 2:35 PM

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