CAPE CENTRAL RUNS DOWN SEMO CROWN

Before the basketball season began, few people gave Cape Central a chance at winning the SEMO Conference Championship.

And before the fourth quarter started Tuesday night, few would've suspected that the Tigers would end up beating Charleston.

Cape Central proved all their doubters wrong in one amazing eight-minute stretch against the visiting Blue Jays.

The Tigers improved to 12-11 on the season and 5-0 in conference play by finishing the last 8 minutes and 12 seconds on an incredible 21-0 run and suffocated the Blue Jays 53-43.

The win assured the Tigers their first conference championship in 10 years, their last dating back to when Dick Wadlington was coach. The title was bit of a surprise for Central, which was seeded behind five of the six other conference teams in early season tournaments.

"Cape Central hasn't done it in a long time and it just feels absolutely great," said senior point guard Nick Swoboda, who scored six points in the key run in the fourth quarter. "I think we have proved something this year. At (the beginning of the year) we weren't playing as well, but we've got used to each other.

"Now we're playing like a winning team, a championship team."

Charleston (12-13, 1-4) led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter and by 11 with :38 to go in the third.

Then, to put it mildly, the Tigers had their way.

Central senior forward Kelly Illers sank a three with :12 to go in the third to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 43-35 and that was the score entering the fourth quarter -- Central's quarter.

Illers and Central center/forward Ross Conner each scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Swoboda, who finished with six points, six assists and no turnovers, pushed the scoring snowball a little further when he tipped in a rebound. Two possessions later, Central's junior center/forward Ross Conner ignited the momentum when he threw down a dunk to make the score 43-39.

Central guard Eric Wessel got in on the scoring parade when he scored on a conventional 3-point play to pull the Tigers within 43-42 with 5:35 left.

Conner put the Tigers ahead to stay on a conventional 3-point play of his own with 4:25 remaining.

"We just had to come out and win the conference championship so we won't have to worry about winning it tomorrow night," Conner said. "I guess we finally realized we weren't playing up to our potential in the first two quarters and we stepped it up."

"We just didn't get into our offense," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "I think their defense had a lot to do with it. They put (Donnie) McClinton on (Jeffrey) Ewing. McClinton is quick, one of the quickest guys to guard Ewing all year. I think He shut him down. And (Terrance) Gillespie stopped shooting the ball."

Gillespie ended up with a game-high 22 points, including five 3-pointers. Ewing finished with 14 points.

Charleston took a 31-25 lead into halftime by torching the nets from 3-point range. The Blue Jays nailed six of the 13 3-pointers in the first half and led 31-25. In the second half, Charleston made 2-of-21 from long range.

According to Cape Central coach Brett Reutzel, the Tigers made a minor adjustment at halftime that extinguished the Blue Jays' fiery touch.

"I told them that maybe their coach (Reutzel) wasn't too bright," Reutzel said with a ear-to-ear grin. "We really backed up defensively in the first half. I didn't think we could pressure them like we had been playing. I thought they were too quick for us and they could beat us off the dribble. I told them in the second half to play defense like we had been playing.

"I just can't say enough good about the way we've played in the conference games."

"When we got up on them we pressured them into turning the ball over a couple of times," said Swoboda. "We play better when we're up on them. Basically we've pulled together in the fourth quarter as a team lately. We play together and we win together and in the fourth quarter we realized that."

NOTE: The Tigers will host Kennett tonight for a chance to go undefeated in conference play. Central Athletic Director Terry Kitchen said anyone wearing orange will get in for $1. ... Central also earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament which begins next Tuesday. Jackson got the No. 2 seed, followed by Sikeston at No. 3, Poplar Bluff No. 4 and Farmington No. 5.