Basketball tourney heads to final round in 3-A

The boy’s state basketball tournament opened today with the final opening round game in class 3-A. Lemars used a smothering defense to hold Forest City to just 12-points in the first half of play as the Bulldogs cruised to a 57-44 victory. Forest City coach Bob Hilmer says Lemar’s defense forced their offense out near midcourt.Forest City shot just 31-percent for the game and made only four of 21-shots in the opening half.John Beitelspacher (beetle-spock-er) led Lemars with with 20-points on nine of 12 shooting but says defense is what won the game.Beitelspacher says his points came off good offense.For his part, Beitelspacher held Forest City high-scoring junior Rob Kampman to eight points in the game on two of 16 shooting.