Tournament champs

It's called the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament. But for the last two years, the local December classic has been all Charleston.

Sunday evening the Blue Jays defeated Central High School 62-42 at the Show Me Center to capture their second consecutive Christmas title and 17th overall. In the team's three tournament games its closest win was by 18 points. That game was against Jackson, which took third place.

Not surprisingly, Charleston was well represented on the all-tournament team. All-tournament honors went to Michael Hull (Charleston), Trey Watkins (Charleston), Garan Evans (Central), Jamal Cox (Central), Karson King (Jackson), Blake Reynolds (Jackson), Cody Debrock (Notre Dame), Alex Heuring (Oran), Lane Below (Advance) and Kyle Stroder (Leopold).

This year's tournament got a late start, with the first day's games canceled due to winter weather. Still, attendance for the four days was 17,615.

If you missed any of the action or want to relive the fun, check out semoball.com. There you can read stories, watch video, view photo galleries and more.

Thank you to all who participated in the tournament. From the players and coaches, to the referees, organizers, parents, fans and sponsors, you help make this the quality sporting event that it is. We look forward to seeing you at the Show Me Center next year.