~ Central cruised against Seckman 76-47 at the Tiger Shootout
It took more than five minutes for the Central boys basketball team to surrender a point to visiting Seckman and only a few minutes more for the Jaguars' star to start showing signs of frustration.
Behind the strength of its defense, Central jumped out to an early lead, which it never relinquished, in a 76-47 victory at the Tiger Shootout on Saturday.
"We knew No. 13, he was a good player," said Central's James Lane, referring to Seckman's Kyle Leslie. "They said he averaged like 30 a game and they just won a tournament. Coach was like, 'Every time he gets the ball, you've got to double him. We've got to limit his touches.'"
Leslie, a 6-foot-5 senior, managed to score 25 points Saturday, but his misses were more telling than his makes. The Tigers forced him to settle for long 3-point attempts on multiple occasions and many drives to the basket ended with wild shots.
Lane said he and his teammates noticed Leslie's reaction to his struggles.
"We did," he said. "We heard it, too."
Before halftime arrived, Leslie was having words with himself and his teammates on the court.
"That just makes me smile," Lane said.
Central jumped out to a 10-0 lead to start the game and led by 19 at the half.
Lane, who finished the game with a team-high 24 points, wouldn't admit to dominating on the inside but rarely was stopped by the Jaguars.
"Oh, nah," he said. "I wouldn't say I had my way. I would just say I had to work at it. They wasn't really respecting all the lobs."
The Tigers (9-3) continued to feed Lane the ball throughout the game.
"He plays so hard," Central coach Drew Church said of Lane. "He's in the right spot. He goes after every single rebound and either gets it or gets a hand on it, and that's where he gets a lot of his stuff from.
"We run a lot of sets for him to get the ball and he's improved so much over the last year. He deserves it. I'm proud."
When the Tigers were running toward the basket in transition, rather than methodically set up designed plays, it most often was senior Kevin Casasola finishing for Central.
Casasola scored 22 points in the victory, the Tigers' third over a district opponent.
"We played good," Casasola said. "The second half we slacked a little bit on defense, but overall we had a good performance."
Central now has faced all four of its district foes this season. The Tigers defeated Northwest by 20 points in early December and beat Jackson by double-digits at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.
Poplar Bluff is the only district opponent that holds a victory over the Tigers, having defeated Central 66-31 in the SEMO Conference tournament.
"It's good because we get to see everyone in our district this year and that's not always been the case in the past," Church said. "It's always good to know what you're going up against in districts and hopefully this will kind of give us ... a little test of where we are now and where we need to be."
Despite Saturday's convincing victory, Church emphasized that he believes his team still has plenty of improving to do.
"These games are important and our record is great for the fans and the newspaper, for you people, but we've got to be the best team we can possibly be come district play," he said. "Winning games is great and I'm happy for these kids to be experiencing some success, but we can't let anything go to our heads. We've got to continue to improve because we've got a tough road ahead."
Seckman 10 9 13 15 -- 47
Central 17 21 13 25 -- 76
SECKMAN (47) -- Ben Cookson 3, Matt Mertz 8, Kyle Leslie 24, Alek Ferbet 2, Marc Viglasky 4, Kappautt 5. FG 18, FT 7-9, F 14. (3-pointers: Mertz 2, Leslie 2. Fouled out: none)
CENTRAL (76) -- Blake Ozbun 7, Andrew Williams 9, James Lane 24, Kevin Casasola 22, Hunter Kinder 2, Zach Boerboom 12. FG 31, FT 11-19, F 11. (3-pointers: Williams 3. Fouled out: none)
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