Cape Central ends regular season in heartbreaking loss to CBC

Cape Central senior Cameron Williams scored 25 points in his last home game. It wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell to the Christian Brothers College Cadets 64-62 on Wednesday in Cape Central High School.

Williams had a chance to make the final shot from the three-point line to win the game, but it fell short.

“I thought was a great game, very physical game,” Tigers head coach Drew Church said. "Just another one of these games that we need to go through going into the postseason."

It was the Tigers' first loss against a Missouri team all season. Their first loss came against nationally ranked Simeon of Chicago at the Show-Me Champions Classic on Jan. 28 in Vashon High School. The game was originally scheduled for Feb. 1 but had to be postponed to Wednesday due to inclement winter weather. The Tigers were coming off an 80-71 road win at Park Hills Central on Tuesday, a game in which Williams scored his 1,500th career point.

"The scheduling wasn't ideal, but this is the only date that CBC could come down," Church said, "and so we want to take advantage of that. Our legs were a little tired from last night, but that's part of it. You got to be able to go through the grind and find a way to succeed, and I think our guys for the most part did a good job competing."

Freshman TySeandre Reynolds scored 19 points for the Tigers. Edwards and Williams combined to score 14 of the Tigers' 17 points in the first quarter. Edwards scored half of the Tigers' 14 points to help Central go into halftime with a slim 31-30 lead.

Williams scored 10 of the Tigers' 12 points in the third quarter but found themselves down 45-42 entering the fourth quarter.

Junior Jay Reynolds scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter to help rally the Tigers. Central spent much of the final period in the free throw line, making 7-of-15 from the charity stripe.

"I thought, for the most part, we guarded decent," Church said. "We missed a lot of free throws, just a lot of free throws, and they're a good team."

Central (24-2) opens the Class 5 District 1 Tournament with a matchup against DeSoto on March 1 at 4 p.m. The Tigers look to repeat as district champions.

"I just told our guys we need to know this feeling right now," Church said. "So we can remember that and continue to get better even in the next four days."

__Make a shot, win a car__

During halftime, three Cape Central students won a raffle to shoot some hoops in front of the capacity crowd to win a 1999 Chrysler Sebring convertible.

The car was donated by local CPA Melvin Van de Ven to the school district.

"He wanted the kids to be able to utilize it over to CTC and kind of refurbish it and restore it," said Cape Central superintendent Dr. Neil Glass. "They did that, and, we got it back with the foundation, and we decided to give it away tonight to one of the kids fortunate to win a car."

All three students emerged from the CT Jungle fan section sporting makeshift togas to battle for a car as old as the Greek gods themselves. Central senior Hikmat Roumany emerged as the victor and claimed the keys as his prize. The entire student section erupted with excitement and celebrated with Roumany.

"It was a win for the Career Technology Center and it was a win for the student here," Glass said. "We're just excited to be able to do it."