BERGERSON LEADS CAPE CENTRAL'S REVENGE BRIGADE; SENIOR NETS 32 POINTS IN WIN OVER NOTRE DAME

Cape Girardeau Central High senior Chris Bergerson had the game of his life, which pretty well ruled out any chance Notre Dame had of sweeping the season series from its city rivals.

The 6-foot-5 Bergerson started out hot with 12 first-quarter points and he never let up, finishing with a career-high 32 as the Tigers upended the Bulldogs 75-64 Tuesday night in front of a surprisingly less-than-packed crowd at Notre Dame's small gymnasium.

Central, which had lost to Notre Dame 47-45 in the season opener, improved to 7-8 as the Tigers broke a four-game losing streak.

Notre Dame fell to 5-8 as the Bulldogs have now lost three straight.

"This is the most (points) I've had by far. I'd never even had 20 before," said a grinning Bergerson. "After I made my first couple of shots I tried to get the ball as much as possible and my teammates got it to me. It's good to get these guys back after they beat us last time."

Tigers' coach Brett Reutzel was extremely pleased that his team found the sweet-shooting Bergerson at every opportunity.

"Chris is a good player," Reutzel said. "We need to get him the ball as much as possible. We did that and he was more aggressive tonight."

Travis Williamson ran Central's break effectively and finished with 18 points. Ross Conner added 11.

"Travis ran the break real well and he hit the open man," said Reutzel. "We didn't play a flawless game, but I thought we played hard for 32 minutes, which is what I was looking for.

"It's good to get Notre Dame back. The same thing happened last year, when they beat us early and we beat them later. I told the kids they're looking for the sweep and we can't let that happen. But the main thing is we just needed a win."

The young Bulldogs, who appeared to be turning the corner after a recent upset of Kelly, have started to struggle again.

"We had the big win over Kelly, but it's been tough since," said Notre Dame coach Chris Janet. "We've lost three in a row, but we've had the toughest January schedule in Southeast Missouri."

Zach Miller had a strong game for the Bulldogs with 21 points while Jason Rubel added 17 and Michael Wehner contributed 11. All are juniors.

"Bergerson had a career night. It figures he'd have it against us," Janet said. "Part of it is he was playing well and part of it was we didn't guard him. We broke down so many times fundamentally."

Bergerson started on fire with 12 first-quarter points -- on a variety of shots, most of them mid-range jumpers -- but Miller almost matched him with nine early points as the Bulldogs grabbed a 19-14 lead after one quarter.

Williamson took over in the second period, scoring 12 points as the Tigers moved ahead 35-30 at halftime. His 3-pointer with a little more than three minutes left in the half put Central ahead 25-22 and the Tigers never trailed again.

Central opened up an 11-point lead in the third quarter as another Williamson trey made it 49-38. Notre Dame pulled to within 53-45 entering the final period.

The Tigers held on to a lead of either eight or 10 points for much of the fourth quarter. Notre Dame did manage to get within seven points at 61-54 with nearly five minutes still to play and the Bulldogs also later trailed 65-58.

But Central got a free throw from Williamson, a follow shot from Conner and two free throws from Bergerson. That made it 70-58 with 2:20 remaining and the Tigers coasted home from there. Bergerson scored 10 fourth-quarter points to finish off his big night.

"Losing four in a row was tough," said Bergerson. "This feels good and hopefully we'll get it going again."

Central rallied from 15 points down to win a thrilling JV game 56-55. Jason Roddy's tip-in with nine seconds left was the game-winning basket.

Donnie McClinton led Central with 23 points while Roddy had 12. Don Franklin paced Notre Dame with 19 points and Mark Rubel had 16.

Notre Dame will return to action Friday night by hosting Jackson. Central will host defending Class 4A state champion CBC Saturday afternoon.