ORVILLE – It didn’t take long for the Keith High School Bears to take control of their area game against Marbury on Friday night.

The Bears scored 14 of their 20 first-quarter points in the paint as they ripped the

Bulldogs, 73-41.

“We wanted to get back in the win column tonight,” Keith coach Joseph Pettway said. “We had been struggling with finishing our last two games.”

Keith played aggressive on defense and dominated the offensive boards which created many second chance shots. In the first quarter, which both teams scored the first 14 points of the game from underneath the basket, the Bears hit two consecutive 3-pointers to take an early 14 – 8 lead with 2:35 showing on the clock. Lewis Lee then hit three inside baskets in a row to end the quarter and Keith never looked back. The half time score was 44-16 as the Bears continued their control of the boards to outscore the Dawgs 24-8 in the second quarter.

Dominique Thomas finished the first half with 14 points. Coach Pettway didn’t play his starters much in the second half of the game.

“I wanted to get the young guys in to get some minutes and still try to finish strong,” Pettway said. “I’m proud of our boys’ effort. Marbury has a good team, they play good team defense and the score sometimes is not indicative of how the game went. It was an exciting ballgame.”

The Bears, who improved to 5-7 overall and 1-1 in the area, hope to get things together with three area games in a row coming up.

Thomas, who led all scorers, finished the game with 18 points, 6 assists, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds. Charles Jones added 14 points and 6 rebounds. Lee also chipped in 14 and grabbed 5 rebounds. Marbury, coached by Joey Meigs in his first season, fall to 3-7 (0-3 in area). Joe Tomberlin and Harold Simon scored 9 points each for the Bulldogs.