Cape Central drops OT thriller to Kennett 48-41

KENNETT, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau Central's boys basketball team used a pair of late 3-pointers to dramatically force overtime here Friday night.

But the Tigers could not pull out a victory as Kennett outscored Central 13-6 in the extra period to prevail 48-41.

Central fell to 3-9 while Kennett improved to 11-2.

"Kennett is a really good team," said Central coach Derek McCord. "I thought we had a good game plan and defended well and rebounded well, but we continue to struggle with our shooting. We shot 34 percent and it's tough to win that way."

Matt Cardin hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to pull the Tigers to within 33-32. After two Kennett free throws, Jay Ruark buried a tough 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime at 35-all.

Mitch Craft was the Tigers' lone double-figure scorer as he had 12 points to go with eight rebounds.

Kennett had four players score in double figures, led by Dustin Pritchett and Tyree Goolsby with 11 points each.

P. BLUFF 61, JACKSON 54

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Jackson comeback fell short as the Indians (6-6) gamely battled Poplar Bluff (12-2) for three quarters before faltering down the stretch.

After falling behind by nine points in the first quarter, Jackson rallied to close the gap to 27-26 by halftime. The Indians were down 45-43 going into the final quarter, but were outscored 16-11 in the final eight minutes.

Lance Bollinger and Tyler McNeely topped the Indian scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Seth McDowell added 11.

Poplar Bluff's Tony Webb led all scorers with 26 points and Tyler Hansbrough chipped in with 16.

SCOTT CITY 54, CHAFFEE 46

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Scott City, trailing by a point at halftime, used a big third quarter to knock off Chaffee and inch closer to the .500 mark.

The Rams (5-6) were down 18-17 at halftime but outscored the Red Devils 19-9 in the third period. D.J. Walton was Scott City's only double-figure scorer with 25 points.

The Red Devils (2-7) got 16 points from Brent Thomason and 10 from Chase Eskew.

DELTA 92, ZALMA 85

ZALMA, Mo. -- Craig Bock poured in 36 points to lead Delta past stubborn Zalma, which remained winless.

The Bobcats (5-8) also received 24 points from Lance Kinder, 19 from Joey Keys and 11 from Brent Menz. Kinder dished out 12 assists.

The Bulldogs (0-7) were led by Chad Wiseman with 26 points. Also in double figures were Steve McCain with 17, Tim Lemons with 15 and Nick Reinhardt with 11.

LEOPOLD 49, OAK RIDGE 44

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- The Wildcats (3-8) knocked off the Blue Jays (3-7) for the second time this season.

Scott VanGennip led Leopold with 12 points and Clayton Jansen had 10. Oak Ridge got 15 points from both Adam Hahs and Clayton Ruesler.

BELL CITY 50, RICHLAND 47

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Bell City clawed its way back into the game in the final seconds of regulation and overcame Richland in overtime.

Up by one with 10 seconds to go in overtime, Bell City's sophomore Zak McIntyre calmly sank two free throws to secure the victory.

The Cubs (10-3), still without injured leading scorer Eric Henry, were down by four late in the fourth quarter, before trimming the lead to two. After Richland sank one of two free throws to pull ahead by three at 39-36, Bell City's Dominitrix Johnson sank a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to tie the game at 39.

CHARLESTON 56, SIKESTON 55

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Charleston continued to surge after winning the recent University High Christmas Tournament as the Bluejays slipped past rival Sikeston.

The Bluejays (8-4) were led by Jordy Mixon with 18 points. Lezcano Dean added 16 and Dontay Clark had 10.

Sikeston (5-5) got 19 points from Lontas McClinton, 15 from Justin Freeman and 12 from Lavar Morgan.

DEXTER 72, WOODLAND 32

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Dexter rolled over Woodland, holding the Cardinals to single-digit scoring in each quarter.

Luke Johnson led Woodland (7-6) with 12 points, followed by Travis Benfield with 11.

Chad Gill paced the Bearcats with 18, while Chris Hyten tallied 15. Hyten had four 3-pointers and Gill three as Dexter dropped nine from beyond the arc.

PORTAGEVILLE 68, SCC 59

MORLEY, Mo. -- Scott County Central hung tough but Portageville proved too much.

The Braves (7-4) got 23 points from Chris Pullen, 13 from Chris Johnson and 10 from Terrance Williams.

The Bulldogs were led by J.T. Williams with 19 points.

PERRYVILLE 69, C. CITY 38

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. -- Perryville romped in its Jefferson County Conference opener.

The Pirates (7-3, 1-0) received 19 points from Chad Ozark and 15 from Justin Dreyer.

ST. PIUS 47, ST. VINCENT 45

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- St. Vincent fell by two points in its Jefferson County Conference opener.

The Indians (5-3, 0-1) were paced by Tyler Wengert with 17 points and Matt Wengert with 12.

NEW SALEM 58, SO. MO. 55

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Seth Gaines scored 22 points and David Green followed with 17 as New Salem Baptist Academy (5-6) slipped past Southern Missouri Christian.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

ST. JOSEPH'S 46, JACKSON 38

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson managed just one field goal in the first quarter as it trailed throughout an eight-point loss.

"We didn't get out of the starting gate and were playing catch-up ball the rest of the night," said Jackson coach Ron Cook, who saw his team endure a five-minute scoreless stretch the final five minutes of the first quarter, which ended with St. Joseph's ahead 14-3.

The Angels pulled away further, leading 27-13 at halftime and 38-23 after three quarters.

Jenna Leet, who scored 10 points, was the only player for Jackson (5-5) to reach double figures.

Delta Tournament

DELTA, Mo. -- Third-seeded Delta upset No. 2 Dexter 45-40 to advance to the championship game of the Delta New Year's Tournament, where the Lady Bobcats will take on top-seeded Twin Rivers today.

Twin Rivers defeated No. 5 St. Vincent in the other semifinal 71-42.

In consolation games, No. 4 Oran defeated No. 8 Puxico 54-32 and No. 6 Chaffee ripped No. 7 Woodland 50-9.

After losing their first two games, Delta is 7-3. The Lady Bobcats outscored Dexter 15-7 in the fourth quarter.

"The difference was we hit our free throws," said Delta coach Randy White.

The Lady Bobcats hit 11 of their 12 free throws in the fourth quarter. Katrina Flores hit all four of her free throws and made a 3-pointer in the period as well to account for all seven of her points.

Rebecca Below led Delta with 14 points and helped limit Dexter's top player to just one field goal.

Chelsey Brown led St. Vincent with 10 points against the top-seeded Lady Royals. Twin Rivers' Amanda Lance led the way with 19.

Oran's Maria Eftink scored 27 to lead her team past Puxico. Oran led 18-2 after the first quarter.

Chaffee (3-6) got 17 points from Jennifer Vandeven and 11 rebounds from Ashley Graham in the Lady Red Devils' victory over Woodland.

Chaffee will play Oran in the consolation final at 2 p.m. today. St. Vincent and Dexter will play for third place at 3:30 and Twin Rivers and Delta will square off for the title at 5.

NEW SALEM 45, SO. MO. 34

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Sarah Green scored 15 points and Jennifer Meek added 14 to lead New Salem Baptist Academy (6-2) past Southern Missouri Christian.

BOYS SWIMMING

SLUH 143, CAPE CENTRAL 42

The Tiger swim team was swamped by a powerful St. Louis University High squad at Central Pool.

Cape Central fell to 2-5 in dual meets.

Gabe Keys recorded the only first place for the Tigers with a win in the diving competition.

Cape Central results

Medley relay - 3. (Sam Maguire, Alex Heddle, Andrew Moreton, Clay Schermann), 2:00.57

50 freestyle - 2. Maguire, 23.66

Diving - 1. Gabe Keys, 134.95, 3. Derek Miller, 115.25

200 freestyle relay - 3. (Schermann, Chris Daniel, Chad Proffer, Mike Mercer), 1:49.34

100 breaststroke - 3. Heddle, 1:15.18

400 freestyle relay - 3. (Mercer, Heddle, Maguire, Moreton), 3:56.63

-- From staff reports