2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Charleston routs Advance in opening round

The No. 3 Charleston Blue Jays led wire-to-wire as they defeated the No. 14 Advance Hornets 90-57 in the opening round of the 2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

From the tip, the Blue Jays used their size advantage to control the boards as they jumped out to a 22-11 lead after the first quarter.

“We think with our size, rebounds should be to our advantage every night,” Charleston coach Jamarcus Williams said. “Rebounding is always important and we’ve been trying to improve our transition play.”

Even into the second quarter the Blue Jays continued to dominate the boards as well as continuing to force turnovers on the defensive end as Charleston opened the quarter on a 10-2 run.

“Whenever we run some of our full court sets and defensive pressures, obviously we want it to create turnovers and create scoring opportunities,” Williams said. “We were able to do that some tonight and we need to continue to improve in that category.”

The job Charleston did on both ends was good enough to send the Blue Jays into halftime with a 40-24 advantage.

The beginning of the second half was similar to the first half in that once again the Blue Jays were all over the boards, bringing down rebounds and consistently turning the Hornets over.

Offensively, the Blue Jays did a good job of getting multiple players involved, as they had five scorers in double figures.

“I have some guys that can put it in the bucket,” Williams said. “We share the ball really well and once we get it inside, we shoot a high percentage.”

Leading the pack of double-digit scorers was Ko’Terrion Owens with 23 points in the win.

Also scoring in double-digits was Owen Willis with 19 points, Govarion Johnson with 13 points and Deshaun Henderson and Tayshon Clark with 12 points each.

On the opposing end, the Hornets were led by Braylen Carlton with 21 points and Hunter Rodgers with 17 points.

Advance (1-6) moves into the consolation bracket where the Hornets will play the loser of Kelly and Chaffee at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Charleston (6-2) advances to take on the winner of Kelly and Chaffee at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.