Central advances; Jackson ousted in district hoop tourney

Tigers defeat Farmington, will face Poplar Bluff in championship game.

By Jeremy Joffray ~ Southeast Missourian

After entering district playoffs on a season-high three-game losing streak, Central High School's boys basketball team needed to turns things around in a hurry if they were going to reach their first district final since 1999.

The Tiger's prayers were answered Monday night at Central High School in the form of a semifinal matchup with third-seeded Farmington, whom No. 2 Central dispatched 83-47 to move on to Thursday's district final against No. 1 Poplar Bluff. The Mules (23-3) reached the final with a 53-43 win over Jackson in the other semifinal game.

After dropping their past two games by a combined 19 points, the Tigers (17-10) wanted to jump on the Knights early. And with the help of an 11-0 run to start the game, the Tigers did just that.

"We blew them out before," Tiger guard Jake Knepp said of Farmington, "so we wanted to get a big win before Bluff."

Knepp hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter, and scored 12 points. With Knepp hitting from outside Central pushed out to a 28-11 first-quarter lead.

"Jake Knepp came out shooting absolutely on fire," Tiger coach Derek McCord said. "What a kick-start from Knepp."

The Tigers continued to pressure Farmington (10-15) and dominate them on the boards. Central out-rebounded the Knights 28-8 in the first half and led by 25 going into halftime.

Justin Thompson hit four 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the third quarter for Farmington, but the Knights still trailed by 23 entering the final period. Up big, the Tigers were able to give extended playing time to junior-varsity standouts Tyson Seabaugh, Eli Harris and junior Michael Brown.

"It's good to get guys district experience because you never know who you're going to need Thursday night," McCord said.

Central cruised in the fourth quarter. A monster dunk from Scott Chestnutt midway through the quarter putting an exclamation point on the win.

Chestnutt led the Tigers with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Knepp added 15 points and Ryan Delph had 13. Thompson led the Knights with 17 points.

McCord said it felt good to get back on track, and looks forward to Thursday's district final.

"We want to take it a step further," he said. "We're hoping to sneak up on Poplar Bluff."

Central will come into Thursday's matchup with Poplar Bluff as underdogs, something McCord said should help his squad.

"The pressure is on them, they're the heavy favorites," he said. "It just depends on if our shots are falling."

Poplar Bluff 53, Jackson 43

For the fourth-seeded Jackson Indians, things could not have started much better in their district semifinal game with Poplar Bluff Monday night.

Jackson (11-16) held the Mules without a basket the first two minutes of the game, and led by as much as 14-8 before settling for a 16-12 first-quarter lead. The bottom fell out from there, though, as Poplar Bluff reeled off the first six points of the second quarter to grab their first lead of the game at 17-16 and never trailed again.

Jackson coach Mike Kiehne said Poplar Bluff's strength and athleticism were just too much for his team.

"Over time they just wore us down," he said.

While the fact that the Mules went into halftime ahead would not surprise many, Jackson held Mules standouts Tyler Hansbrough and Tony Webb to two points apiece in the first half. Poplar Bluff senior Cheron Pearson made up for his teammates lack of scoring, putting in 13 first-half points and 22 for the game.

"The X-factor was Cheron," Kiehne said. "He had a great game. He was the guy that we were going to make beat us and he did."

Jackson made one more run at the Mules after the half, pulling to within 32-28 before Poplar Bluff used a 10-1 run to close the quarter. Jackson would get no closer than eight points in the final quarter.

Webb said the third quarter was big for his team.

"That's our quarter," he said. "If we have a slow first half we always regroup in the third."

Despite the loss, Kiehne said he was proud of the way his team approached the game considering how much of an underdog they were.

"It would have been easy to pack it in," he said.

Webb, who entered Monday's game two points shy of the school record for points in a career, finished with 13 points. Webb broke the record, previously held by Howard Garrett who finished his career in 1959 with 1,067 points, with a free throw less than a minute into the third quarter.

Tyler McNeely led the Indians with 10 points. Hansbrough finished with three points for the Mules.

"I've never been prouder of a bunch of guys," Kiehne said.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 171