AHOSKIE – Oakwood School and Bethel Christian Academy had similar game plans Monday night.

It was Oakwood, however, who executed the run-and-gun offense better as they scored a 77-59 victory over the Eagles in the opening round of the Lt. Nick Brantley Scholarship Tournament at Revelle Gymtorium.

The teams battled in the first quarter as they exchanged hoops early on. Oakwood started things off with a hoop from Eric Mossman, but the Eagles responded with a Daniel Feher hoop.

Kyle Freeman then hit back-to-back buckets for Bethel as they led 6-2. Xavier Griffin came back with a triple for Oakwood which was followed by a second Mossman hoop as they edged ahead 7-6.

A Shane Tripp three-pointer put the Eagles back in the lead, but Alex Moore scored for Oakwood to tie the game at 9-all.

Jay Demery scored and Griffin had consecutive buckets as Oakwood pushed out to a 15-9 lead. Tripp responded with a bucket for Bethel, but Demery hit another hoop for the team from Greenville and Mossman added a free throw to give Oakwood an 18-11 lead.

Feher had a hoop for Bethel to close the gap to 18-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Oakwood opened the second quarter with back-to-back hoops from Mossman as they built a 22-13 lead, but the Eagles responded with Tripp sandwiching a pair of hoops around a Griffin free throw to close within 22-18.

Oakwood was able to pull away from there, leading by 10 (37-27) at the intermission.

The third quarter was all Oakwood as they pulled away to a 19-point lead (61-42).

It was the fourth quarter that was kind to the Eagles as the closed the gap to six (63-57) with 3:04 to play.

Bethel trailed 63-42, but went on a 15-0 run to close the deficit to six. Freeman started the spurt with a hoop at the 6:35 mark and was followed by three consecutive buckets by Tripp as BCA closed to within 63-50.

Tripp then buried a three-pointer which was followed by another Tripp hoop and a bucket by Tyler O’Dell as they got within 63-57.

Oakwood got a free throw by Mossman, but Freeman responded with a hoop that cut the Bethel deficit to 64-59.

Oakwood, however, pulled away as they scored the final 18 points to secure the victory.

Oakwood advanced to last night’s (Wednesday) semi-final against Ridgecroft School. Bethel will play in the Fifth Place game Thursday evening against Pungo Christian Academy.