By MATT KING\Daily Journal Sports Writer

Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Updated: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 11:26 AM CST

IRONTON - The Central boys basketball team made a series of timely baskets in the fourth quarter to recover from a slow offensive start against Clearwater on Monday.

The third-seeded Rebels survived a potential upset by defeating the sixth-seeded Tigers, 56-51 in an opening-round game at the 79th annual Arcadia Valley Thanksgiving Tournament.

Central (1-0) made just 8-25 field goals in the first half while struggling against the Clearwater zone defense, but compensated with five three-pointers in the second half. The Rebels also proved to have the deeper team with a decisive 19-0 margin in bench scoring.

Opening-night jitters appeared to play a role during the first quarter, as the two teams combined for 12 turnovers. Six points from sophomore Aaron Bates helped Central grab an 8-7 edge.

After Clearwater (0-1) moved in front on a Roger Bishop jumper early in the second quarter, sophomore Brian Gross nailed a triple from the left corner to even the score at 15-15.

Adam White immediately answered with a three of his own, sparking a 7-0 run by the Tigers. The back-and-forth trend continued as Justin Forsythe connected from long range, and Ryan McFarland knocked down a jumper on consecutive possessions, drawing Central to within 24-20 at the break.

The pace of the action picked up drastically out of the locker room with both teams trying to run. McFarland converted a steal into a layup to even the score, but White raced the other way for a driving layup, then hit a three-pointer on the fast break to restore a five-point lead for the Tigers.

The Rebels gave up a pair of easy putbacks late in the third after failing to block out White, but still managed to carry a 39-37 lead into the final stanza after Forsythe and Dominic Petty made three-pointers.

The contest appeared headed for the wire following a nice exchange to begin the first quarter. Corey Beard muscled his way inside after grabbing an offensive rebound to extend the Central lead, but an excellent pass from Jerod Henson to Bishop yielded yet another tie at 44-44.

White again outworked the Central rebounders for a putback to put Clearwater ahead with 5:00 left, but the Rebels took control from there. Clutch three-pointers by Bates and Gross made it 52-47, and the Rebels denied the ensuing inbounds for a critical turnover.

Petty cut to the basket and hit a back-door layup with 1:20 left after Clearwater trimmed its deficit to three, and Forsythe made two free throws to put the game away.

Forsythe led Central in scoring with 15 points, including three field goals from beyond the arc. Bates added nine points and Gross chipped in eight.

White posted game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds for Clearwater, and Bishop scored 16 points.

Central will battle No. 2 West County in the semi-finals at on Wednesday in a rematch of last year's double overtime thriller, which was won by the Rebels.

Clearwater 7 17 13 14 - 51

Central 8 12 19 17 - 56

SCORING:

Clearwater - White 22, Bishop 16, Hime 5, Henson 4, Brinkley 4.

3-pointers - White 2.

Central - Forsythe 15, Bates 9, Gross 8, Petty 7, McFarland 6, Beard 5, Jones 4, Martin 2.

3-pointers - Forsythe 3, Gross 2, Bates, Petty.

South Iron 76, Bismarck 24

IRONTON - The South Iron Panthers have won the championship in five of the last six years at Arcadia Valley, and showed on Monday that they have a strong chance to prevail yet again.

The top-seeded Panthers took advantage of its size advantage at every position and placed three players in double figures while dismantling Bismarck, 76-24 in first-round play.

South Iron (1-0) scored the first 11 points of the contest, highlighted by transition layups by Chad Kaempfe and Boyd Reed. Mike Franklin snapped the run with a driving jumper, but the Indians still faced a 21-5 deficit after one quarter of action.

The margin ballooned to 43-9 when David Prater posted up nicely for a short bank shot after Steven Ward buried a three-pointer from the corner.

Bismarck (0-1) played its best basketball early in the third quarter, opening the period with an 8-0 scoring burst. Back-to-back steals led to jumpers from Franklin and Tim Lincoln which brought the Indians to within 49-19.

The Panthers then closed the game on a 27-5 run, and finished with 12 players in the scoring column. Reed led all players with 18 points, while Ward accounted for 13 points and nine rebounds. Josh Dinkins tossed in 10 points.

The Indians committed a modest 15 turnovers thanks to solid guard play from both Lincoln and Franklin, who each scored nine points. The remainder of the team produced just two field goals.

South Iron finished with an overwhelming 39-14 edge on the boards.

The winner of tonight's game between Arcadia Valley and Ellington will play South Iron in the semi-finals at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Bismarck will meet the loser of that contest at 5 p.m.

Bismarck 5 6 10 3 - 24

South Iron 21 26 13 16 - 76

SCORING:

Bismarck - Franklin 9, Lincoln 9, Dunlap 2, Henson 2, Clifton 2.

3-pointers - None.

South Iron - Reed 18, Ward 13, Dinkins 10, Kaempfe 7, Nichols 7, Alcorn 6, Prater 6, Wright 2, Evans 2, Edwards 2, Polk 2, Hampton 1.

3-pointers - Kaempfe, Ward, Reed.