The Bees’ inside-outside duo seemingly got whatever basket it wanted, providing a potent scoring punch in a 58-51 win over TAPPS No. 15-ranked Central Texas Christian on Monday in a first-round game of the Troy Holiday Tournament.
Academy (12-3) advanced to face Class A No. 10 Bartlett at noon today in a semifinal. CTCS (10-3) plays either Crawford or Blaze at 1:30 p.m. at Troy Middle School in a consolation semifinal.
Kelton scored a game-high 20 points, including five 3-pointers, and Reeders scored 16 of his 18 points in the second and third quarters.
“We have a two-headed monster,” Academy coach Ed Glendening said. “Every good team has to have a good inside-outside game. I think we’ve got that.”
After CTCS took its only lead at 21-20 with 3:16 left in the first half, Kelton and Reeders provided Academy’s answer. Reeders snagged an offensive rebound and made a layup and Kelton nailed a 3-pointer to give the Bees the lead for good.
The senior duo scored 17 of the the Bees’ 21 third-quarter points as Academy turned a tight game into a comfortable lead.
Reeders scored 11 in the quarter, including seven of Academy’s first 12 points.
Kelton, Reeders and the Bees pulled away using a press defense that took the Lions out of any offensive rhythm.
“We got it up to the six- or seven-point range and it allowed us to pressure and take some chances there,” Glendening said.
Academy led by as many as 13, holding CTCS without a field goal for nearly four minutes.
CTCS coach Nuni Venegas attributed the Lions’ offensive struggles to his team’s 16-day layoff between games.
“Our shots were way off,” he said.
The Lions started to heat up in the fourth, turning four Academy turnovers into easy baskets. CTCS got as close as seven with 1:10 left after a 3-pointer by Nash Ingram. Academy’s Kyle Kuban answered with a layup for a 58-49 lead with less than a minute left to seal the win.
CTCS guard Clay Crews scored seven of his team-high 18 points in the fourth.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
