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BELLAIRE - The Bellaire Eagles racked up two more impressive wins last week to push their overall record to 8-1 and their conference record to 6-0.

The first win came against Gaylord St. Mary on Tuesday evening in Gaylord.

The score was relatively close through the first two periods, with Bellaire holding only a 26-21 advantage at the halftime break.

"Gaylord St. Mary played a tough 3-2 zone defense that slowed our offense down," Bellaire head coach Stan Sexton said.

Bellaire kept slowly building on their lead, however, and by the end of the third they held a nine point advantage, 41-32, which turned into the final tally of 55-38.

"Our defensive effort was just as effective (as the Snowbirds'), as we held the Snowbirds' perimeter player scoring down," Sexton said. Bellaire had three players in double figures. Brad Guy put up 20 points, Ryan Hebden knocked down 12, and Riku Lempio contributed 11. Sean Payne had 8 assists.

Alvin Sitkiewicz led Gaylord St. Mary with 16 points.

On Thursday, Bellaire turned back Pellston, 69-51, and had four players reach double figures in scoring. Payne led with 16 points, followed by Lempio and Guy with 15 each. Ryan Hebden put up a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Guy also had 8 boards.

But for Sexton, the story of the night wasn't the team's offense, but rather its defense.

"The team put together another great defensive effort allowing us to hold Pellston well under their season average," he said.

Pellston trailed at the end of the first quarter 19-10, and Bellaire put up a strong second quarter to take a 35-21 lead at the break.

The Hornets rallied in the third quarter, however, and outscored Bellaire 1913 to tighten the score to 48-40 heading into the final frame.

The Eagles responded by putting Pellston away 21-11 over the last eight minutes.

Bellaire hosts Onaway tonight (Wednesday) and Ellsworth on Friday in an intriguing rematch with the only team besides Charlevoix to give the Eagles any trouble this year.

In the first matchup between the Eagles and the Lancers, Ellsworth led for all but the final 1:29.