CELTICS COMPETING IN NIXA TOURNAMENT

O'HARA TOPS WILLARD FOR THIRD PLACE 80-74 while Hillcrest won the Consolation Championship beating Harrisonville 53-43 and Mount Vernon was the winner for seventh place over Aurora 66-44. ______ The game for the tournament championship was won by Hogan Prep who defeated Nixa 66-61._____ _____ _____The Archbishop O'Hara High School Celtics won their first round game in the 2011 NIXA INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT on January 27 taking on the Mount Vernon Mountaineers by a score of 66-53. ______ Four O'Hara cagers led the way with Josh Rupprecht scoring 18 points and Daniel Hurtt getting 15, DJ Jackson had 13, and Jevon Lyle contributing 11. ______ Kaden Jones was the game's leading scorer with 21 points for Mount Vernon, but he was the only Mountaineer in double figures. _____The host team Nixa also advanced by winning over Harrisonville 62-45. ______ In the other bracket the scores were Willard 80 Aurora 49 and Hogan Prep 71 Hillcrest 65. ______ ______ _______ ______ O'Hara (ranked #1 in 3-A) lost to Nixa (ranked #4 in 5-A) 89-58 in the semifinal game of the tournament on the following day. _____ Five three-pointers in the first half for the Eagles helped give Nixa an advantage of 41-23 at the halfway mark and the Celtics could not rally over the large difference. _____ Leading the O'Hara offense was Josh Rupprecht who had 18 points; Jevon Lyle had a dozen. _____ Since Hogan Prep defeated Willard 81-73, they go to the Championship game to face Nixa. _____ Other second round scores were Harrisonville 66 Mount Vernon 39 and Hillcrest 53 Aurora 32. _____ ______ _______ ______ On the final day of the tournament, the Willard Tigers went ahead in the initial quarter 23-16, but the Celtics came through with a very strong second quarter pouring in 26 points while the defense held the Tigers to15. _____ Both squads had 36 points apiece in the second half. _____ DJ Jackson led all scorers with 26 points and Skyler Frazier had 24 for the Tigers. _______ In double figures for the Celtics, Daniel Hurtt had 20, Josh Rupprecht had 14, and Jevon Lyle had 10; just missing double figures Kyle Baker had 9. ______ Two other Tigers made it to double figures with Tim Huskisson getting 19 and Kyle Ruby getting 18.