Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament a fun four days

The championship game of the 70th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament turned out to be a classic match of two schools from Cape Girardeau County.

The Notre Dame Bulldogs led most of the game over the Jackson Indians. With under 4 minutes Jackson appeared to be cruising with a lead of 14 points. But the final minutes included an impressive run by Jackson to make it a one score game. When the buzzer sounded after 32 minutes Notre Dame's early scoring prevailed and the Bulldogs won 60-58.

Leading Notre Dame in scoring Tuesday night was Tanner Shively with 21 points. Jackson's leading scorer was Blake Reynolds who score 24 in the final contest.

Congratulations to both teams on making it to the final game and to Notre Dame for winning the championship.

If you're a fan of high school basketball you were probably also interested in the other games played over the four days. Cape Girardeau Central High SChool won the third-place game over Scott County Central. Charleston defeated Woodland for fifth place.

The combined attendance for the tournament was 19,080.

The winner of the fan-voted MVP sponsored by Rhodes 101 Stop was Charleston's Delfincko Bogan, who also was the leading scorer of Day 4 with 40 points. The all-tournament team included: Bogan (Charleston), Javonta Daniel (SCC), Grant Ressell (Notre Dame), Blake Reynolds (Jackson), Garret Reynolds (Woodland), Jeffery Porter (Scott County Central), Quinn Poythress (Notre Dame), Jacob Priggel (Oran), Branden Wendel (Jackson) and Al Young (Cape Central).

The Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is a tradition for many, and the newspaper is pleased to be a part of it.

Congratulations to all of the teams, and thanks to the organizers -- led by tournament director Mitch Wood -- volunteers, sponsors and officiating crew for a fun-filled four days at the Show Me Center. Special thank you to all the fans who attended.

To follow more great basketball games and other sports, keep reading the Southeast Missourian and semoball.com.