ONEIDA | Coalfield made the trip up U.S. Highway 27 Friday looking for its first win of the season.
But the Yellow Jackets picked a bad time to tangle with an Oneida team that is just beginning to hit its stride. The Indians started slow, then rolled to a 73-52 win over the Jackets.
Oneida trailed by as much as seven points in the first quarter, and could manage only 25 points in the entire first half, still trailing at halftime.
The second half was all Oneida, however. The Indians went on a 24-6 lead in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead, then continued to pour it on the fourth quarter.
Freshman Grady Keeton scored 20 points and finished with nine rebounds, while his older brother, junior Mason Keeton, scored 18 points and had nine assists.
Hayden Brawner had a team-high 12 rebounds, as Oneida continued its dominance on the glass for a second consecutive game, out-rebounding Coalfield 42-25.
Meanwhile, it appears that senior Zeb Spradlin might be enjoying coming off the bench. After moving out of a starting role as coach Jacob King looks for the right rotation of players, Spradlin had a double-double at Oakdale on Tuesday, and followed that up with a 12-point, 8-rebound effort against Coalfield, a game that included two dunks — including a two-handed reverse dunk to ignite the crowd at OHS Gymnasium.
The game was the district-opener for Oneida, which has now won back-to-back games entering a busy time that will feature six games over the next two weeks before breaking for Christmas.
ONEIDA (73): Gr. Keeton 20, M. Keeton 18, Spradlin 12, Brawner 8, Rector 6, Huling 4, Ga. Keeton 3, Limburg 2.
COALFIELD (52): Hines 13, Burgess 12, Conlon 11, Hudson 6, Armstrong 5, Hamby 5.
