Central captures first victory

The Central boys basketball team picked up its first win of the season Wednesday night, beating Parkway Central 70-59 in the first round of the Mobil "On the Run" Classic hosted by Northwest High School in House Springs. Mo.

Central plays Eureka at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.

Senior guard Eli Harris scored 20 points for the Tigers (1-3), who also got 18 points and eight rebounds from 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Darnell Wilks.

Junior forward Garrett Ozbun added 10 points and 10 rebounds, while junior forward Anthony Hempstead chipped in with 10 points.

"It feels good to get that first win," Central coach Derek McCord said. "We're young, but we're going to get better."

The Tigers trailed 23-13 after one quarter as the Colts hit four 3-pointers. But Central tightened its defense and outscored Parkway Central 29-5 in the second quarter to lead 42-28 at halftime.

"They came out on fire, then we switched from zone to man," McCord said.

Central saw its lead cut to 51-47 entering the final period but pulled away down the stretch.

The Tigers outrebounded the Colts (1-3) 35-16 and held them to 32 percent shooting.

"Those were probably the two keys to the game," McCord said.

CENTRAL 70, PARKWAY CENTRAL 59

P. Central 23 5 19 12 -- 59

Central 13 29 9 19 -- 70

PARKWAY CENTRAL (59) -- Mark Brown 15, Finus Smith 7, Andrew Collier 11, Kevin Myers 13, Brandon Jones 1, Robby Gross 12. FG 19, FT 14-19, F 20 (3-pointers: Brown 3, Smith 1, Collier 1. Fouled out: Collier)

CENTRAL (70) --Alex Ray 4, Eli Harris 20, Darnell Wilks 18, Tyrone Reece 2, Garrett Ozbun 10, Xavier Wilford 2, David Deisher 4, Anthony Hempstead 10. FG 29, FT 11-19, F 16 (3-pointers: Harris 1. Fouled out: none)

GIRLS BASKETBALL Chaffee Tournament

Top-seeded Kelly moved into Saturday's championship game by rallying past fourth-seeded Sikeston 58-50 in the semifinals.

The Hawks (3-0) trailed 29-21 at halftime. Kelly Essner led the way with 18 points and Mindy Robert added 17.

In the tournament's final first-round game, No. 3 Scott County Central crushed No. 6 Chaffee 76-32 behind 15 points from Brittney Peete, 14 from Brittany Godwin, 12 from Janet Penrod and 10 from Nyketia Johnson.

No. 5 Scott City rolled past No. 8 East Prairie 58-24 in a consolation semifinal to advance to Saturday's consolation final.

The championship pairing will be completed tonight. No. 2 Delta and Scott County Central square off at 7:30 p.m. There will be a consolation semifinal between Chaffee and No. 7 Oran at 6 p.m.

(Semifinal)

KELLY 58, SIKESTON 50

Sikeston 14 15 11 10 -- 50

Kelly 14 7 18 19 -- 58

SIKESTON (50) -- Silverthorn 1, Farrell 2, Minner 2, Blurton 6, Gibson 17, Morris 5, Davis 2, McCrae 15. FG 22, FT 6-23, F 18 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

KELLY (58) -- Jessica Burnett 4, Brittany Ponder 8, Kelly Essner 18, LeighAnn Buchheit 5, Mindy Robert 17, Summer Proctor 2, Rachel Kline. FG 44, FT 8-15, F 19 (3-pointers: Essner 1, Buchheit 1. Fouled out: none)

Other events

• The Central junior high boys swept a pair of games from host Jackson, 68-42 for the freshmen and 44-31 for the eighth grade.

Adrian Cox led the Central freshmen (5-0) with 21 points, followed by Jejaun Bell with 18 and Jeremy Kimble with 11. Antonio Garritano scored 15 for Jackson.

Byron Wright paced the eighth grade (4-1) with 16 points, followed by Jordan Sheets with 12 and Tyree Pullen with 11.

-- From staff reports