Cape Central, ND to clash in 2nd round

Cape Central's Jay Ruark scored 16 points in a junior varsity game once.

Wednesday night he came off the bench and scored 18 in a varsity tournament he has been looking forward to all his life.

But it wasn't the amount of points that was important.

It was the timing.

Ruark provided a big spark twice to lift No. 7 Central into the second round of the University High Christmas Tournament with a 68-50 win over No. 10 Woodland.

In other first-round games, No. 2 Notre Dame knocked off No. 15 Oak Ridge 58-22; No. 3 Jackson defeated No. 14 Delta 93-51; and No. 6 Advance defeated No. 11 Kelly 74-53.

The Cape Central-Woodland game was more competitive than the final score indicated.

After taking a 34-25 lead into halftime, Central (2-6) came out cold in the third quarter, failing to score on its first eight possessions and missing on its first six shots.

That spell allowed Woodland (6-4) to pull within 35-33 and 37-35.

At that point, with about 3:30 to go in the third quarter, Ruark was inserted. He immediately came up with a steal and a layup. Then teammate Anthony Harris stole a pass and delivered it again to Ruark, who made a short jumper.

Those two baskets started a 10-0 run and the Tigers never looked back.

"We got stagnant in the third quarter and he immediately gave us back-to-back baskets and that was big," Central coach Derek McCord said. "I was starting to get worried."

"My mindset is to bring intensity off the bench and to be a sparkplug," said Ruark. "I've been wanting to play in this tournament since I was a kid. I came in for a shoot-around today and felt comfortable and I was still relaxed at game time. Once I got going, I knew I was feeling it and I was confident with my shot."

Ruark, who had five steals and hit eight of his 12 shots, also provided a big lift for Central in the first half.

Central trailed 17-16 after the first quarter, but Ruark hit two shots in the first minute of the second quarter. His first basket of the second quarter gave the Tigers an 18-17 lead and Woodland never led after that.

Another player gave Central a big boost off the bench. Sophomore point guard Will Johnson scored 11 points. Ryan Delph, a starter, added 13 for the Tigers.

For Woodland, Michael Owens led the way with 18 points, followed by Alex VanGennip and Luke Johnson with 10 apiece.

The Cardinals were doomed by 24 turnovers, most of which were caused by the Tigers' pesky full-court presses. Central had only 11 turnovers.

The Tigers also shot the ball well, hitting 28 of their 49 two-point attempts. But Central missed all seven of its 3-point shots.

NO. 2 NOTRE DAME 58, NO. 15 OAK RIDGE 22

Oak Ridge failed to score for almost a two-quarter stretch as the Bulldogs took command of the game.

Oak Ridge (3-5) scored two points early in the second quarter and didn't score again until the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame (5-3) got a balanced scoring attack, led by Cory Beussink with 10 points. Travis Siebert followed with nine, while Nathan LeGrand and Doug Schaefer had eight apiece.

Zach Ruesler led Oak Ridge with seven points.

Notre Dame, which outscored Oak Ridge 19-0 in the third quarter, led 14-8 after the first quarter and 27-10 going into the second half.

No. 3 Jackson 93, No. 14 Delta 51

Delta (2-6) hung around for a quarter, leading Jackson 14-12 after the first eight minutes of play, but the Indians (4-4) erupted in the second half, outscoring the Bobcats 57-27.

Lance Bollinger led Jackson with 18 points, followed by sophomore Tyler McNeely with 16 and Nathan Brown with 15.

Lance Kinder paced Delta with 15, while Joey Keys added 13.

Jackson made 21 of its 32 free throws, while Delta sank 18 of 22.

No. 6 Advance 74, No. 11 Kelly 53

The Hornets got out to a huge second-half lead, but Kelly (1-7) battled back to pull within 10 in the fourth quarter before Advance pulled away again.

Jared Ritter led Advance (7-1 ) with 19 points, followed by Andrew Jenkins with 17, Cain Kelley with 16 and Eric O'Hare with 10.

Major Burger led Kelly with 20 points, followed by Tyler Schlosser with 19. Only five players scored for Kelly. Burger and Schlosser combined for 39 points, while the rest of the team scored only 14.

Advance led 36-17 at halftime and 56-32 going into the fourth quarter.