Cape Central survives, beats Hazelwood Central on the road

The Cape Central Tigers narrowly escaped the Hazelwood Central Hawks 61-51 in overtime on Friday at Hazelwood Central High School.

With the game tied 51-51 after regulation, Tigers freshman Tyseandre’ Edwards opened overtime with a corner three, adding to his impressive evening.

“He came in and gave us good minutes,” Tigers coach Drew Church said. “He came in and we ran an ISO set where we go hi-low and he cut hard and fed the ball to Cam (Williams) and then he knocked down a big three. That was right after a bad turnover. He didn’t hang his head and he came right back and made some good team plays.”

Senior Clayton McClard took back-to-back charges to allow the Tigers to distance themselves in overtime and improve to 16-0.

“Nobody ever plays harder than Clayton,” Church said. “When he gets in there he does his best, he gives up his body and we needed him tonight. The kid is a warrior.”

Church felt his team responded well to the adversity they faced along the way.

“We need games like this in a really tough environment,” Church said. “We made some mistakes but our boys didn’t quit either.”

After one-quarter of play, the Tigers led 14-9, but the Hawks responded in the second to take a 26-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Tigers answered back in the third to take a 39-35 lead heading into the final frame.

After turning the ball over in the final seconds and surviving a mad dash to end regulation, the game went to overtime tied at 51.

Cam Williams picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter, forcing him to sit until the 5-minute mark of the fourth when the senior could finish the game with the four fouls.

“I thought he played like a beast tonight,” Church said. “He was physical and when he did catch the ball in the post they were double and triple teaming him and he didn’t force it.”

Church said the way Williams played down the stretch with four fouls will be important as the season continues.

“He’s usually pretty good about it,” Church said. “We definitely missed him in the third quarter. It was a good team win.”

The next set of games for the Tigers provides a challenge that Church feels will be crucial come postseason time.

“Our schedule is stacked for us to have to go through hard times and physicality and good teams,” Church said. “That’s what we want.”

Cape Central (16-0) will return home at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17 when the Tigers host NMCC at Cape Central High School.