Cape Central flies to big home win over Caruthersville

The NBA Dunk Contest isn’t for two more weeks, but the Cape Central Tigers put on one of their own on Friday night at Cape Central High School.

Cape Central soared to a 90-63 win over the Caruthersville Tigers behind thunderous dunks all night long.

“(The dunks) hype the team up,” Cape Central’s Marquel Murray said. “When the team gets hyped up it helps us come out strong and helps us play together to get the win.”

Right out of the gates Cape Central came out energized as the Tigers opened the contest on a 15-0 run to take control.

“We just try to play good defense,” Murray said.

The run pushed Caruthersville on its heels momentarily but the Tigers responded by winning the remainder of the first quarter 18-11 to trail 26-18 after the opening eight minutes.

Maybe the biggest story of the night for Cape Central was the return of LaTroy McIntosh and after starting the game on the bench, he checked in and instantly threw down a two-handed jam to send the crowd into a frenzy.

“We needed our real big back,” Murray said. “It helps everyone get back into their regular spots.”

With Cape Central leading by 8 after the first quarter, Marquel Murray continued to produce as he poured in 15 first-half points, while also playing relentless defense and sticking around the haul down rebounds.

Murray’s efforts coupled with supplementary scoring from Tyson Williams and Max Vogel, was enough to send Cape Central into halftime with a 41-28 lead.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, momentum began to favor Caruthersville, but Cape Central had an answer as it quickly ballooned its lead to 50-35.

“We started moving the ball around to get wide open looks,” Murray said. “We also started driving baseline and finding open guys in the paint for open buckets.”

The exclamation point of sorts came courtesy of Murray who soared for a windmill dunk, igniting the Cape Central student section.

Cape Central was able to win the third quarter 20-14 to expand its lead to 61-42 entering the fourth quarter.

As it was all night, the Marquel Murray show continued in the fourth as the Cape Central sophomore continued to score and dish out assists, leading the Tigers to a 90-63 win.

Murray finished the game with a game-high 31 points in the win.

Also scoring in double digits was Tyson Williams with 18 points, Jay Reynolds with 10 points and McIntosh with 10 points.

Caruthersville was led by Jermontae Alexander with 18 points, Sammy Bryant with 17 points and Abeyon Motton with 13 points.

Caruthersville (11-8) faces another tough road test at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, when it travels to take on NMCC.

Cape Central (13-6 returns to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, when the Tigers take on Eureka in the 6th Man Shootout at Charleston High School.