Dec 27, 2002 By Jim Kriek For The 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Four-to-one usually aren’t very high odds in the long run, but they paid off big at the end for Carmichaels. That was the formula Carmichaels used to get away to a winning start in the opening round of the Carmichaels Lions Club’s King Coal Tournament Thursday night, 63-52 over Beth-Center.

The first four baskets scored by the Mikes were three-pointers, around a regular goal by the Bulldogs.

From that point on, the host team was out front to stay.

The win moved Carmichaels into the championship game tonight against McGuffey, which defeated Mapletown, 74-58, in the nightcap.

Mapletown and Beth-Center will play the consolation game at 6 p.m., to be followed by the finals.

Beth-Center did lead once in the game as Larry Booze scored a basket in the opening seconds for a 2-0 edge, then the Mikes hit their stride with two bonus baskets by Colby Giles and one by Jono Menhart.

Garrett Balas got two on the line for B-C, which Giles answered with his third consecutive bonus shot, then two regular ones, and the Mikes were out front to stay, 16-4. The Bulldogs went five minutes without a basket after Booze’s opening shot, and then Brad Ferea broke the dry run with a layup at 2:12.

Carmichaels went on to lead 20-13 at the quarter, 43-25 at intermission, and 56-35 after three with the Bulldogs holding the edge in the fourth, 15-7.

Mikes coach Don Williams said, “Beth-Center hustled the whole game, and made us work for the win. I think we might have become a little lax with the early lead, and then we had to come back on them. Maybe it was a little too much holiday spirit, and now we can get back into our regular groove.”

Beth-Center coach Barry Niemiec said, “There was a bit of a second quarter lapse that hurt us, but Giles had a hot first-half hand for them, and that was a big difference. I was pleased to see us cut down on our turnovers, which had hurt us in previous games, but the big thing was we hustled the whole game. Now if we just had a little height.”

Beth-Center flurried at the end of the first and cut the gap to five, 18-13, on Ferea’s goal, Matt Dearing’s 3-pointer and two Balas’ free throws before Sean McCombs put up a rebound at the buzzer for a 20-13 Mike lead.

Dearing laid one in to open the second, again pulling the Bulldogs within five, 20-15. Then the Mikes strung a baseline drive, a lay-in by Hathaway, Menhart’s steal and go, Hathaway on a rebound, Giles from the side and Menhart underneath with a recovery for a 30-15 lead, before Dearing’s three ended the B-C spell and left them down 32-18.

Beth-Center came back in the fourth with three Dearing goals, one each by Balas and Tony Davis and a 2-1 card by Ferea to offset the Mikes’ single goals by McCombs and Menhart and a 1-1 by Hathaway.

Giles was high for the Mikes and the game with 27 points, with 13 coming in the first quarter drive, and Menhart had 15.

Dearing led B-C with 18, Ferea hit 14 and Balas 10.