BALANCE RULED AT U-HIGH

The 56th annual University High School Christmas Tournament that concluded Saturday night will go down as the year of balance.

In all, there were 13 games where a lower seed defeated a higher seed, including champion Advance and consolation champ, Chaffee who beat higher seeds three times.

The tournament games were unusually close, even in the first round where the most lopsided margin was only 39 points. The average margin of victory for the 26 games was 11.6 points.

There were two overtime games, three games decided by one point and 16 games decided by seven points or less.

Write-in candidate

Kelly standout Michael Romas made the all-tournament team as a write-in because his name was left off the ballots.

Romas scored 41 points through the first three games, but almost doubled that in his final game as he scored a tournament-best 37 points in the Hawks' 84-83 overtime loss to Chaffee in the consolation championship game. That performance obviously impressed voters enough to make them notice his name was missing.

Romas' 78 points were the second highest total in the tournament. Chaffee's Matt Stroup was the runaway scoring champ, scoring 119 points, which is thought to be a tournament record.

Johnson honored

Prior to the University High Tournament championship game, the Cape Girardeau Officials Association presented a plaque to honor the memory of longtime basketball evaluator Bob Johnson, who died last fall.

Johnson's widow, Jo Ann, accepted the plaque from Al McFerron and Dutch Meyr, local athletic officials, as the fans responded with a standing ovation.

Where's the beef?

Some time before the second day of games, a ham -- along with some other food that was intended for the hospitality room -- was stolen from the Show Me Center.

The perpetrators also reportedly went through some coaches' bags, but didn't steal any equipment -- just food.