Cape Central wins anticipated matchup against Charleston

Love was in the air on Tuesday night, but not at Cape Central High School as the Tigers downed the Charleston Blue Jays 71-65 in a highly anticipated matchup between two area powerhouses.

The crowd filed in early for the matchup and the energy could be felt from the opening tip as both teams struggled to take care of the ball.

“I think a lot of it had to do with the crowd,” Tigers senior Cam Williams said. “We locked in as a team at halftime and tried to control the turnovers.”

Fellow senior Clayton McClard echoed Williams’ thoughts on the impact the energy had early on.

“Whenever you play Charleston you know it’s going to be a fast game,” McClard said. “We just had to play our own game.”

Tigers coach Drew Church said it was hard to hear yourself think but it was an atmosphere they expected given the caliber of the two teams.

“It was two great teams and a great SEMO Conference battle,” Church said. “They make you play out of control with their speed and their quickness.”

The Tigers led 17-13 after one-quarter of play capped off by a fastbreak dunk from Cape Central’s Tyseandre’ Edwards.

“The first two minutes were crazy,” Church said. “I think our guys settled down and took care of the ball.”

The two teams would trade buckets in the second quarter and the Tigers entered the locker room at halftime leading 27-25.

Cape Central led 49-38 after three-quarters of play but the fourth quarter saw the Blue Jays turn up the pressure defensively as they forced multiple turnovers that allowed Charleston to cut the deficit to as little as 3 in the fourth.

“I think we failed to handle (the pressure) like we should have,” Williams said. “We’ll have to work on that in practice.”

Church felt the Tigers were too passive against the press of the Blue Jays.

“You have to attack some and be aggressive,” Church said. “I thought when we did that we got layups.”

Church said this game will be key for the Tigers moving forward regardless of how the matchup turned out.

“Anytime we can play a game like this with a great crowd, a great environment and against a team like Charleston who’s so hard to play against, it’s going to help us win or lose,” Church said. “We need games like this and I was really proud of our guys.”

Jaydon Reynolds led the way with 22 points for the Tigers. Cam Williams had 20 points, Tyseandre’ Edwards had 17 points, Maurice Boyd had 5 points, Tyson Williams had 3 points and Marquel Murray and LaTroy McIntosh had 2 points.

Charleston was led by PJ Farmer who had 18 points in the loss. Ko’Terrion Owens had 13 points, Fletravion Stanback and Rico Coleman had 12 points and Almareion Williams had 10 points.

Charleston (19-6) will return home at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 for senior night when the Blue Jays host Poplar Bluff at Charleston High school.

Cape Central (22-1) looks to continue its winning ways at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 when the Tigers travel to take on the Kennett Indians (8-13) at Kennett High School.