Central fends off Oak Ridge

Robert Walls who?

Walls, a Central senior, had not scored more than two points in any contest this season.

But he broke through with 12 points off the bench against Oak Ridge in the first round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Friday evening.

Walls tied Kevin Casasola with a team-high 12 points. He had eight points in the third quarter to help the No. 5 Tigers beat No. 12 Oak Ridge 60-49 at the Show Me Center.

Walls' four field goals in the third quarter were big ones as he helped his team outscore the Blue Jays 18-11 after the Tigers led by two points entering the second half.

"He killed us," Oak Ridge sophomore Brett Thomas said. "We needed something like that to happen. He came in and did his job. He knocked down the open shots and got to the rack. That's all you've got to do.

"That's what won them the game -- that third quarter."

Thomas played an impressive game, especially in the fourth quarter. The sophomore finished with 25 points, including 14 in the fourth, to help his team close to 51-47 with 3 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the contest.

But Central converted its free throws down the stretch to hang on.

Each quarter was close except for the third period.

The scored was tied 14-14 after the first quarter. Central led by just two at the half, and the fourth quarter was tight, with the Tigers outscoring Oak Ridge 19-17.

Central went on a 10-4 run in the third period. Walls scored eight during the stretch.

When Walls scored his fourth field goal of the quarter to open the Central lead to 35-27, the Central student section chanted, "You can't stop him."

"I was just in there trying to take good shots, get everybody motivated and just try my best to keep us up," Walls said.

Central's Zach Boerboom said Walls provided some solid defense off the bench, too.

"We know that he's a good defensive player," Boerboom said about Walls. "He came in and he played good on defense, got some rebounds, and he attacked the boards hard."

Casasola -- who the Central student section dubbed "Casserole" -- also had an impressive second half. He netted two 3-pointers in the third quarter.

It was important for Walls and Casasola to score some outside shots because the inside game for Central struggled at times.

"Our big game was kind of non-existent today, and that's something we go to a lot," Central coach Drew Church said.

Church said Walls could see more minutes as the season progresses.

"Robert is a kid who comes every day to practice and plays hard," Church said. "Today is just a day where we needed a spark off the bench, and Robert was able to help us."

Thomas and Garret Light shined for Oak Ridge.

Light scored 20 points and combined with Thomas for all but four of Oak Ridge's points. Stephen Wright scored the other four.

"That [spreading out the scoring] is what we talked about the whole game," Oak Ridge coach Adam Stoneking said. "We're young. We have a bunch of guys who are sophomores and juniors. For a lot of these guys, it's their first time playing a lot of varsity minutes. We're constantly talking about being more aggressive."

Stoneking added that his team struggled with layups and field goals. Oak Ridge was 14 for 23 from the free-throw line.

"Free throws and missed layups really killed us," Stoneking said.

While Thomas scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to bring the Blue Jays back within four points, the Central offense went sour. But the Tigers pulled together to outscore the Blue Jays 9-2 over the final 3:03.

Central's Terrance Howard scored six points in the fourth quarter, including converting 4 of 6 free throws.

"We kind of got into a funk there in the fourth quarter," Church said. "We kind of got away from what was working for us -- attacking and getting the ball into the core of their defense. ... But down the stretch, like I said, we missed some shots but took care of the ball and made the free throws."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Oak Ridge1471117--49

Central1491819--60

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Oak Ridge (49) -- Garret Light 20, Brett Thomas 25, Stephen Wright 4. FG 16, FT 14-23, F 17. (3-pointers: Thomas 3. Fouled out: None)

Central (60) -- Blake Ozbun 2, Terrance Howard 9, Andrew Williams 6, Robert Walls 12, Josh Harris 6, Kevin Casasola 12, Rick Russell 6, Zach Boerboom 7. FG 24, FT 9-17, F 18. (3-pointers: Casasola 2, Howard 1. Fouled out: Harris)