Cape Central bounces back, routs Hillsboro

Despite a slow start, the Cape Central Tigers dominated the Hillsboro Hawks 81-55 on Tuesday at Cape Central High School.

It seemed early on that the Tigers would have their hands full with the Hawks as Cape Central struggled to rebound and take care of the ball in the opening minutes of the contest.

“We wanted to push the pace,” Tigers coach Drew Church said. “That leads to some quick shots on their part and some quick shots on our part.”

The issues that plagued the Tigers early were quickly straightened out as they went on an 8-0 run to close the first quarter to lead 17-11 after the first eight minutes.

“We started contesting some of their three-pointers,” Church said. “We also didn’t give up many offensive rebounds, it was one and done and then we were able to get out in transition.”

The six-point Tigers lead quickly ballooned to double-digits in a little over a minute of play in the second quarter as Cape Central opened on an 8-3 burst.

The 8-3 run set the stage for another solid quarter for the Tigers as they took a 39-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

A driving force in the success Cape Central had in the first-half was TySeanDre’ Edwards as he scored 12 of his 16 points.

“He had a lot of energy,” Church said. “He gives you an “it” factor in terms of a rim-protector and a guy that can stretch the floor. He was very unselfish tonight.”

Perhaps it should have been expected that Edwards would come out with a lot of energy as the sophomore missed the Tigers’ last game, a 51-49 loss to rival Jackson, as he was serving a one-game suspension for an ejection on Jan. 9 against Notre Dame.

“It killed Ty,” Church said of Edwards missing Friday’s game. “Especially against a rival like Jackson. He feels bad but Ty owns his mistakes and he was right there cheering on the bench.”

As the game progressed Cape Central continued to wear down the Hawks and the Tigers were able to get out in transition.

Their dominant fast-break offense allowed them to open the third-quarter with multiple easy buckets at the rim.

The offense, coupled with Cape Central stringing together stops, gave the Tigers a 59-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.

For Cape Central, the victory over Hillsboro could be categorized as much-needed as a way to right the ship after the loss to Jackson.

“Any time you lose a tough game and then you come back in the next one and play hard and play well, you always have to take that as a positive,” Church said.

Leading the charge offensively for the Tigers was Edwards and Jay Reynolds who both scored 16 points in the win.

Also scoring in double-digits was Marquel Murray with 15 points and Tyson Williams with 11 points.

With the win, the Tigers improve to 11-4 on the season and they now focus their sights on a busy weekend ahead.

Cape Central will hit the road at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, when it takes on Poplar Bluff and the Tigers will hit the road again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, when they play in the Show Me Champions Classic at Vashon High School against Vashon.

“Our next two weeks are really tough,” Church said. “You go play a tough Poplar Bluff team at their place and then you go up to Vashon the next day and then you come back with CBC away next week. We made our schedule like this for a reason. Not saying we’re going to go undefeated but hopefully it prepares our guys and puts them in some situations where they face adversity so they know how to react come district time.”