CAPE CENTRAL ROMPS PAST STE. GEN 102-63

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Cape Girardeau Central High's boys basketball team ended the regular season here Friday night with a 102-63 destruction of host Ste. Genevieve.

The Tigers, who pulled away from an early battle with a 29-11 second-quarter edge, improved to 10-14.

"It was a nice way to end the regular season," said Central coach Brett Reutzel. "We were looking for a good effort with a lot of hustle and we got that."

Chris Bergerson scored 21 points to lead six Central players in double figures.

Ross Conner had 16, T.J. Williamson and Drew Witvoet 13 each, Donnie McClinton 12 and Kelly Illers 10.

McClinton, a sophomore, was seeing his first varsity action of the season after being the JV team's leading scorer all year.

The Tigers trailed by six points early before grabbing a 21-17 lead after one quarter. Central went ahead 50-28 at halftime and built the advantage to 78-48 entering the fourth quarter.

"It was nice to see us score that many points and we got a lot of people into the game," Reutzel said.

Central's JV prevailed 66-42 as Demetrius Totten had 10 points

The Tigers will host next week's Class 4A, District 1 Tournament. Central, seeded second out of five teams, will face third-seeded Poplar Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinal round.

"This game should give us some confidence going into the district," said Reutzel. "Even though (top-seeded) Jackson deserves to be the favorite, the district is pretty wide open."