Jerry Jarrell photo - Woodland's Caleb Lee (down on the court) reaches for the ball, while Bell City's Nick Niemczyk also moves for the loose ball during SCAA varsity action Monday at the conference's annual tournament at Bloomfield. The No. 1 Cubs defeated No. 8 Woodland, 87-55. Watching the play take place in the background is Bell City's Marty Dames (No. 30) and Woodland's Jordan King (No. 54)

BLOOMFIELD - Day 1 is in the books at the 83rd Annual Stoddard County Activities Association (SCAA) Tournament.

Bell City started slow, but showed why they are the varsity's No. 1 seed with a 87-55 win over No. 8 Woodland, while No. 2 Puxico also struggled but managed to escape with a 55-45 win over No. 7 Richland in Monday's opening action at Bloomfield.

On the jayvee side, No. 5 Advance pulled a mild upset with a 60-51 win over No. 4 Woodland, while No. 2 Bell City looked impressive in a 60-27 victory over No. 7 Puxico.

First-round action will be completed today in both the varsity and junior varsity brackets. On the jayvee side, No. 1 Dexter will play No. 8 Richland at 4 p. m. while No. 3 Bloomfield will square off against No. 6 Bernie at 5:30. Varsity play will follow with No. 4 Bloomfield against No. 5 Dexter at 7:30 and No. 3 Advance and No. 6 Bernie will bring day two and the first round to an end with the late game at 8:30.

Varsity

No. 1 Bell City 87,

No. 8 Woodland 55

Woodland hung around the first half behind the scoring of Caleb Lee and Kyle Reynolds an only trailed the state-ranked Cubs, 38-28, at the half.

The Cardinals cut the margin to eight early in the third, and Bell City coach Brian Brandtner opted to go to his bench, pulling all five starters.

The replacements held their own against the Cardinals and actually increased the lead to 10.

Lesson learned, the starters returned to court and went on to finish the third period up 49-31.

Bell City put 28 points on the board in the fourth to win going away.

Phillips Gross led all scorers in the game with 22 points. Nick Niemczyk dropped in 15 while Marty Dames added 14. Eathan Watkins drained three 3-pointer and finished with 11 points.

Lee also connected three times from behind the arc and finished with 18 points and Reynolds poured in 15.

No. 2 Puxico 55,

No. 7 Richland 45

Richland jumped out to quick lead only to see Puxico pull ahead 17-10 after the first period.

Puxico increased the margin to 31-19 at the half, but the Rebels appeared up to the challenge and were determined to make a game of it.

Both teams netted 10 points in the third period, but Richland started to cut into the advantage in the second half, cutting the lead to six points on two different occasions.

Puxico connected on 13-of-16 free for the game, and hit 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter to maintain their lead.

Senior Matt Allison's 16 points led all scorers in the game, while John Smith found the range for 15. Center David Crain scored all 13 of his points in the second half for the Indians.

Puxico held Richland's leading scorer, Drew Thornton, to just eight points. Offensively Nick Harris led the Rebels with 14 points, while Mac Thornton dropped in 10.

Junior Varsity

No. 2 Bell City 61, No. 7 Puxico 27

Jeff Long scored a game-high 21 points to lead the young Cubs to a big win in their opener.

Seven-foot-one Skyler Blackler worked inside for 15 points while Leonard Schaefer's 10 points rounded out the Cubs in double figures.

Tyler Woolard's 10 points were tops for the Indians.

Advance 60, Woodland 51

When a tournament's four and five seeds meet it's usually a very competitive game and this one was no different.

Woodland led by one after the first period, only to see Advance take a 27-23 lead into the half.

Advance increased the advantage to 41-35 after three periods of play, then pulled away in the fourth to seal the win.

Advance got 23 points from Luke Steil in the win, while Mitchell Woods and Cole Benfield both netted 13 for the Cardinals.