Staff photo by Mike Buhler Clarkton's Dustin Ferguson (right) tries to shoot over Delta C7's James Blanton during the first half of Monday's Class 1, District 1 contest at Gideon. Ferguson scored 23 points as Clarkton won 77-40. [Click to enlarge]

HOLCOMB, Mo. -- As the Campbell Camels wind down what has been an up and down season, they now find themselves in the semifinals of the Class 2, District 1 Tournament at Holcomb after knocking off the Neelyville Tigers 61-45.

In other opening round action at Holcomb, the fourth-seeded Naylor Eagles squeaked past the No. 5 South Pemiscot Bulldogs 56-55. Naylor will meet top-seeded Hayti on Thursday with a spot in the finals on the line.

At the Class 1, District 1 Tournament at Gideon, it was a good night to be a higher seed

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Scott County Central's D.D. Gillespie slam dunks against North Pemiscot during the second quarter of Monday's Class 1, District 1 contest at Gideon. [Click to enlarge]

All four higher seeds won their first-round games Monday by double-digit margins, as No. 1 Scott County Central rolled by North Pemiscot 94-37, fourth-seeded Oran pulled away for a 72-57 win over Cooter, No. 2 Clarkton downed Delta C7 77-40 and third-seeded Gideon sank Risco 79-63.

In a game that was dominated by rebounding and second chance points, the Camels were slow out of the gates on offense as Neelyville grabbed an early lead thanks to strong inside play from Daniel Cowan as the Tigers led 12-9 at the end of the opening quarter.

As the second quarter began, the Camels did what they have gotten a great reputation for in the Steve Fowler era: played hard, physical defensive. By forcing numerous turnovers the Camels' Jordan Baggett tossed in six fastbreak points on the period. Cale Weeks and Andrew Pearson came up big on the interior for the Campbell in the second quarter. As the buzzer sounded at halftime, the Tigers faced a 25-20 deficit.

As play resumed in the second half, the Camels came out of the locker room on fire as they received a balanced scoring effort from seven different players on their way to outscoring Neelyville 21-9 in the third quarter. Campbell's pressure on defense continued to frustrate the Tigers throughout the night.

With a big lead and all the momentum, the Camels added several more fastbreak points in the final frame. Neelyville went on a 6-0 run with five minutes to play to cut the lead to 10, but would never get any closer as senior guards Baggett and Tinnon iced the game away from the free throw line.

Neelyville's bench did manage to outscore Campbell's reserves 10-3.

Baggett led the offensive effort for Campbell with a 20-point game.

The Tigers were led in scoring by Cowan with 14 points and Jeremy Patty with 12.

The win earned Campbell a rematch with the second-seeded Bernie Mules in the semifinals on Thursday night.

Clarkton 77, Delta C7 40
Seventh-seeded Delta C7 held a 19-17 lead after one period against the Reindeer before Clarkton heated up and began to pull away, taking a 39-27 edge to the intermission.

"It was a struggle there at the first," Clarkton coach Scott Blackburn said. "We were doing things right but the shots weren't going in. We got on the boards, got some offensive rebounds and got things going that way. That third quarter we got hot, Justin (Brown) got hot and that broke things really open."

Brown canned three 3-pointers in the third quarter as Clarkton blew the game open with a 28-7 third-quarter bulge.

"He's a tremendous athlete," said Blackburn. "He's been working on that outside shot ... He continues to work at it and it's starting to pay off for him."

With the victory, the Reindeer will take on host Gideon in semifinal action tonight at 7:30 p.m. It will be the fourth meeting of the two teams, with Clarkton winning the three previous meetings.

"It'll be really, really tough," Blackburn said. "They're a tremendous team, they're aggressive and they work really hard. It's a challenge every time."

SCC 94, North Pemiscot 37
In Monday's first game, the top-seeded Braves jumped out to a 38-10 lead after one period and never looked back as they rolled to an easy victory.

Scott County Central was paced by 23 points from Drew Thomas, while Delandis "D.D." Gillespie added 18, Otto Porter tossed in 16 and Bobby Hatchett chipped in 13 for the Braves, who led 63-22 at the break and 85-24 entering the final period.

Grant St. Cin scored 20 points to lead North Pemiscot.