Put pressure on the Pirates to see if they could handle it. Pope County did not.

Coach Kevin Cox's Demons imposed their collective wills upon the opposition in the final game at the round-robin event.

Forcing the Pirates into 24-turnovers the host club ran away with the championship trophy in the fourth annual event, 84-49, on Monday night.

Kyle Cox, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, did the most damage in the contest as he netted a game-best 35-points in the victory, which was basically over after a 12-2 run in the third quarter that pushed the Demons lead to 47-27.

Six-foot senior Alex Zeschke added 27-points for Dongola, who outrebounded Pope County 36-22 and basically dominated all facets of the one-sided affair.

Seven different Demons inked the book in the contest as Dylan Simmerman (7), Dillion Gilliland (6), Garrett Micheal (4), Caleb Theis (3) and Dalen Treat (2) all got in on the fun.

“That was the whole game plan from the start because I didn't think that they (Pope County) couldn't handle our press,” said Coach Cox. “I told the kids this afternoon that if we can put our press on and stay with them that we will wear them down. Our kids are pretty well conditioned and I knew that if we ran them that in the end we would do well.”

Although it took some time before the offense caught up with the defense, in was just a matter of time before the first big Dongola run.

It happened in the second quarter.

With Cox and Zeschke each netting nine points in the stanza, Dongola put together an 8-0 run that force Pope County coach Jim Simmons to burn a couple of timeouts.

Already up 24-19, the next four baskets came off of four straight Pirates' turnovers.

A steal and fast break by Simmerman and buckets by Cox and Zeschke (2) pushed the lead to 32-19 with 3:24 left in the half.

Two more scores, one each by Cox and Zeschke, and a nice reverse lay in by Simmerman on a drive down the baseline, sent the teams to the break at 38-25 Demons.

Dongola hit high gear in the third quarter, with Cox and Zeschke continuing the onslaught.

Forcing the Pirates into eight more turnovers in the quarter, the Demons broke away.

Cox closed the 12-2 push with a steal and fast break score to make it 51-29 with just 4:59 left in the third quarter.

Defensively Pope County could do little to stop Dongola, as Cox and Zeschke padded their stats with drives to the basket.

Both scored in the final minute on inside shots as the frame ended at 60-42 Demons.

An 11-2 surge in the fourth quarter pushed the lead up to 79-48 before the coaches emptied the benches for the final 3:26.

If you are looking for a bright spot from the Pirates, they were topped by senior Cody Harris with 15-points while 6-foot-6 junior forward Jacob Floyd notched 13-points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Sophomore Cale Blankenship came off the bench to score 10-points for Coach Simmons team that saw their overall mark fall to 4-11.

Dongola improved to 8-4 on the season as they had their way with Pope County for the second time this season.

Coach Cox's team bested the Pirates, 74-58, at the Crab Orchard Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Demons hit exactly half of their many field goal attempts on the night, connecting on 34-of-68 overall, with most of the damage coming on drives to the basket and offensive rebounds (15 boards) in the win.

Despite playing a fast-paced game, the Demons committed just 10-turnovers, with four of them coming with reserves on the floor in the final minutes.

Pope County finished with a 21-of-45 night (46.6 percent) and they didn't help themselves from the foul line (4-of-10) either.

The Demons have now won two of the four Dongola Christmas Tournament titles since the events inception back in 2012.

“Our kids played hard and played well. They wanted this championship. I told them it was all up to them. Who has the most heart and that is the way we played,” added Coach Cox. “We really have played a lot better the past two weeks than we did earlier in the year. The kids are starting to figure our their roles on the team.”