Keys' big men led the team to a 52-46 victory over the Sperry Pirates in a back-and-forth elimination game Friday afternoon in the Class 3A Regional Tournament at Sequoyah High School. The Pirates were 9-12 and coming off a win over the Westville Yellowjackets in the first round of regionals. The Cougars took advantage of errant passes made by the Pirates to go on eight and five-point runs to take a 13-5 lead in the first quarter. Sperry seemed to have a size advantage, but Keys adapted to the situation and used freshman center Jackson Tarrance to cancel out the size difference. "(Tarrance) came off the bench and he was big for us," said KHS head coach Greg Barnes. "He came in and gave us some good minutes with his scoring, but he also cleared the boards defensively a few times and did a good job there." The Cougars played sloppy in the second quarter. Keys was unable to score in the first four minutes of the game and allowed Sperry to go on a seven-point run in that time and close the lead to only 13-12. Keys later took a 19-16 lead heading into halftime. "I thought we were really sloppy, but we mucked our way through it," said Barnes. "That's all you can really hope for, just win to get to the next game." "Nothing is coming easy here, but you have to stay focus on our goal which is to win the game," Barnes later added. "We got where we wanted to focus on the officiating instead of focusing on what we can control and that's what we talked about more than anything at halftime." The third quarter was competitive. The teams tied twice in the quarter and the lead changed team on four occasions. Keys' big men, junior center Scotty Wolff and Tarrance, took control of the game from the back half of the third quarter. Tarrance was collecting valuable rebounds, stopping Sperrys' offense, and making a pair of shots under the board. "It's a big game," said Barnes. "If you lose you're done and (Tarrance) stepped up and did a great job. He posted up big and strong, got us some baskets there, and on the defensive end he's just big. He clogs the lane up and takes up space there, then does a nice job on the defensive rebounds." Wolff hit a 3-pointer and a buzzer-beater to extend the Cougars' lead to 35-29 at the end of the third quarter. The big men continued to demonstrate their dominance in the final quarter. Tarrance and Wolff combined for 10 points, seven of which came from Wolff, in the final quarter to seal the win. "Scotty is just playing the way I think he is capable of," said Barnes. "He needs to be a leader and in the past couple of games he has stepped up offensively and defensively, he's been solid throughout the whole game." Wolff, along with scoring the game-high 20 points, blocked, rebounded and stole the ball for the Cougars. Tarrance scored his season-high nine points and had a powerful impact on defense and collecting rebounds in his breakout game. The Cougars play the Haskell Haymakers at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Sequoyah High School gym. The Haymakers beat the Cougars at the beginning of the season, but the Cougars beat the Haymakers in the district round. Both games were played in Haskell.