5A-WEST BOYS Alma busts loose in 2nd quarter, slams Vilonia

— Alma didn’t stay behind for very long Friday night.

The Airedales trailed for just more than 30 seconds against Vilonia, exploding for 25 second-quarter points on the way to a 75-49 victory.

Alma (20-4, 11-1 5A-West) clinched at least a share of its third consecutive conference championship with the victory. The Airedales can secure it outright by winning either of their final two regular-season games next week.

“[Celebrating the title] is stuff you do after the season,” Alma Coach Stan Flenor said. “We played well in spots. The important thing is we got our offensive flow going. It was good to see that.”

Vilonia (10-13, 3-8) kept itclose for a quarter. The Eagles withstood Alma’s Austin Duerr hitting his first 3 threepoint attempts and took a 16-15 lead when Trevor Martin made a pair of free throws with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter.

A basket by Brock Widders gave the Airedales a one-point lead after the quarter, and the lead quickly ballooned in the second. Alma outscored Vilonia 25-7 in the second period, taking a 19-point lead into the locker room.

The closest the Eagles got in the second half was 15points, and they spent most of it trailing by more than 20.

“We came out playing good and then we turned over the ball, and that led to transition baskets [for Alma],” Vilonia Coach Lance Davis said. “We were unable to convert [opportunities], and that led to a lot of easy baskets for them.

“You can’t give a good team those.”

Alma had plenty of scoring balance, with four players scoring at least 12 points. Duerr led all players with 17 points, and Isaac McCoy had14. Dee Candelaria scored 13, and Jason Hensley added 12.

Nicholas Schnebelen led Vilonia with 11 points, and Stephen Brewer scored 10.

“Our press was amped up a little bit and we were able to force turnovers,” Flenor said. “That got us separation, and we did a really good job of attacking them.” VILONIA (49) Schnebelen 11, Brewer 10, Talbert 7, Martin 7, Messer 6, Gordon 5, Johnson 3.

ALMA (75) Duerr 17, McCoy 14, D. Candeleria 13, Hensley 12, Widders 7, Peters 4, B. Canadeleria 3, Jensen 2, Doyle 2, Martin 1.

Vilonia ...........16 7 14 12 - 49 Alma ..............17 25 17 16 - 75GIRLS

VILONIA 60, ALMA 31

Vilonia (21-4, 10-2) outscored Alma (14-10, 4-7) 21-4 in the second quarter and won convincingly.

Catherine Puckett 23 points for the Lady Eagles, including 14 in the first quarter. Betsy Bartlett added 13 points, and Julie Stanley scored eight.

Alma got six points each from Hannah Brown and Allison Williams.

VILONIA (60) Puckett 23, Bartlett 13, Stanley 8, Farris 5, Riley 3, Brewer 2, Evans 2, Gordon 2, Highwater 2.

ALMA (31) Brown 6, Williams 6, Folkerts 5, Nelson 4, Marrs 3, Rainwater 3, Griffin 2, Patterson 2.

Vilonia ...........18 21 11 10 - 60 Alma ..............11 4 8 8 - 31

Sports, Pages 18 on 02/19/2011

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