'Hounds race by Crest Ridge, 98-88

A career night for junior Nick Peeples (10), 31 points and 17 rebounds, paced the 'Hounds. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Order this photo]

SWEET SPRINGS -- The slapdash style of basketball played by the Sweet Springs boys isn't always pretty and may offend purists, but it's usually entertaining.

The Greyhounds play best when the game gets ragged, which it did sufficiently during the second half Tuesday to give them a 98-88 home-court victory over Crest Ridge in the first round of the I-70 Conference Tournament.

Sweet Springs used a 21-7 run during the middle of the contest to build a lead sufficient to go unchallenged down the stretch. Although they buried 13 three-pointers in 31 attempts, the key may have been the inside game of junior Nick Peeples.

The 6-foot-4 forward had to battle the Cougars' big men, especially 6-6 sophomore Alex Everhart, and came out on top with a career-high 31 points and 17 rebounds.

With 12 first-half points from senior Tucker Wagoner, Crest Ridge was in front until late in the second quarter. But a 40-second flurry reversed the momentum in Sweet Springs' favor.

It began when senior Craig Sims recovered an offensive rebound near mid-court, took two steps and unleashed a bomb. The Cougars committed one of their 27 turnovers and junior Tyler Dohrman connected from outside. Junior Zach Thomas' steal and trey put the 'Hounds up 36-30 with 2:58 left in the half.

Crest Ridge briefly regained the lead, but two Peeples buckets sent the Blue and Gold into halftime ahead by three points -- and the Cougars, unable to score during the first two-and-a-half minutes of the third period, never caught up.

Led by senior Chad Siegfried, though, Crest Ridge fought back from a 14-point deficit. Siegfried, who wound up with 20 points and 14 assists, dished inside to junior Kyle Shull to narrow the gap to 72-66 with 5:45 remaining in the game.

Junior Aaron Schlatweiler answered with a three and junior Kyle Hollrah, playing his first varsity game, hit twice from close range and kicked a pass out to sophomore Kyle Fuehring for an open jumper to extend the cushion to 10 points with 3:55 to go.

Peeples put the game on ice with 11 points in a little over two minutes and Sweet Springs made five of six free throws during the final 30 seconds.

Wagoner had 18 points and junior Ben Owens grabbed 14 boards for the Cougars (1-1), who shot 52.7 percent from the field -- but were plagued by poor work on the defensive glass, giving up 22 offensive rebounds for 23 second-chance points.

Thomas and junior Tyler Dohrman each scored 15 points for the Greyhounds (2-1), who have the unenviable task of facing No. 1 seed Santa Fe in Thursday's semifinal round.