The Bell County Bobcats made it through a third of their 2023–2024 season with the same number of losses they had when they started a month ago.

Bell County remained the 13th Region’s hottest team and improved to 10-0 by rolling past Scott County 78-49 on Friday in the finals of the Short-Redmond Holiday Classic.

“It’s been a great week of basketball for our kids. I’m very happy for them and excited about the way they played,” Bell County coach Brad Sizemore said. “We beat a quality team in Scott County tonight, and it shows how much our team has grown since last season. We have a lot of work in front of us, but this group has a lot of potential and excited to see how much we can improve this season. All in all it was a great team win for us.”

Freshman forward Ethan Buell led a balanced Bell attack with 22 points. Blake Burnett and Cameron Hall added 19 and 13 points, respectively.

Xyier Wray scored 16 and Harrison Owens added 11 for the 4-7 Cardinals.

Bell County will play in the Carolina Invitational next week in Charleston, S.C.

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Bell County (78) — Cameron Hall 13, Blake Burnett 19, Jaxon Thomas 8, Ethan Buell 22, Cayden Huff 8, Braxton Ferguson 6, Logan Stepp 2.

Scott County (49) — Xyier Wray 16, Tristan Christopher 5, Greg Skinner 2, Ben Glen 4, Harrison Owens 11, Preston Luckett 5, Timmy Mongo 6.

Scott County          3    4    4         9

Bell County 0    6    5    7         8