By Malcolm Butler
After a sluggish first half by both teams, Cedar Creek used a three-point shooting display over the final two quarters to pull away for a 58-45 victory over Summerfield Thursday night in the opening round of the 2023 Neill Kilgore Memorial Tournament at the Brickhouse.
With the two teams tied 19-19 at halftime and plenty of bricks shot at the Brickhouse in the opening 16 minutes of play, the Cougars found their touch from the outside, connecting on nine three-pointers in the final two quarters including three each by Brett Bell and Jake Doan and two more by Jack Bell.
“We had plenty of struggles in that first half,” said Creek head coach Lance Waldron. “Summerfield did a good job of making ti tough on us. The last few games we’ve played haven’t been very tough on us. They did a good job of coming ready to play.
“Our defense in the first half was good. Anytime you can hold someone to 19 points in a half, you have to feel good about it. I felt good about our defense going into halftime, but we knew our offense wasn’t sharp. But we had faith we were going to come out and shoot it better in the second half, and we did.”
Brett Bell, the younger of the two Bell brothers, scored all 11 of his points after halftime while Jack 12 of hits 14 in the third and fourth quarters. Doan, who netted a game-high 22 points in the win, scored 13 in the second half.
“We have been relying on three guys offensively this year which is Connor Johnson, Jack Bell and Jake Doan,” said Waldron. “They have been carrying us offensively. To have Brett step up and score like he did tonight made a huge difference for us.
“Jack struggled for us in the first half and when he struggles we struggle. Really they all struggled offensively in the first half. We only scored 19 points in the first half because of that.”
After Summerfield took a 22-19 lead early in the third quarter, Brett Bell hit the first of his three trifectas in the quarter to tie the game at 22-22 with 6:40 to play. Jack Bell followed with a layup and little brother Brett hit an 19-footer. Doan followed with a three-pointer as Creek led 29-26 with 5:10 to play in the quarter.
After another three by Doan, Brett Bell drained a three-pointer with 2:40 to play in the third to make it 35-31 Cougars.
“Brett has been making one or two shots a night, but he got hot tonight and it really helped our team,” said Waldron. “Scoring … you gotta have it.”
Doan ended the third quarter with a layup and then another three-pointer as the Cougars led 40-33 entering the fourth quarter.
“Jake has really been scoring the basketball well for us,” said Waldron.
The Bell brothers opened up the fourth quarter with three-pointers and Connor Johnson added another three-pointer to give the Cougars a 49-39 lead with 3:45 to play. Another Jack Bell three-pointer made it 52-41 and Summerfield would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Creek hit a total of 12 three-pointers in the win.
The Cougars will face the winner of Quitman and Saline in the championship game scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.
