Central football all-stater gets his first minutes on the court

Central senior Monroe Hicks became accustomed to big numbers this past football season.

Hicks, who hasn't played basketball in his previous three years at Central, made his Tiger basketball debut in Thursday's first-round victory over Leopold in the seMissourian Christmas Tournament.

A 1,500-yard rusher and all-state defensive back, Hicks, thus far, is a little more mortal on hardwood. He just became eligible last Friday.

He made his Tiger basketball debut with about six minutes left in the game. He played the remainder of the game, finishing with three points and three rebounds.

"It's more fun than I thought it was going to be," Hicks said. "I mean, I'm a football player, but hey, basketball is fun and really exciting. It's a real good experience for me. I'm glad I did it."

A sock for a shin

The sock that Delta's Cody Crowden wears on his shin is no superstition -- it's a compression sleeve for his bruised shin suffered in Delta's game against Bell City last week. Delta faced off against Oran the following night and Crowden was bumped again, leaving behind severe soreness for Crowden.

"If it was a sign of indiviudality, and we wouldn't allow it," coach Robert Stein said. "But it is for injury purpose, so we're fine with it."

Crowden missed the last four practices leading up to the tournament. He scored three points in Thursday's game against Jackson.

If it's their anniversary, it must be game time

Ted Hahn didn't have to listen through static this time.

The first-year Woodland coach spent part of his honeymoon 35 years ago trying to pick up a radio station that would broadcast scores from the Christmas tournament, then played at Houck Field House. His new bride, Vicki, waited, watched and wondered what she'd gotten into.

Both were teachers and were spending the night in Memphis, Tenn. He also was an assistant to Gene Bess at Oran.

"It gave me a good idea of what a coach's life is like," Vicki said.

For their 35th anniversary Thursday, Hahn got to see a game up close -- although it was a 103-54 loss to Bell City.

Those weren't my fault

Charleston's Ashton Farmer was alley-ooped twice in the early game ... sort of.

Farmer was tossed a pass from teammate Deshaundry Hamilton early against Chaffee, but the play was broken up.

In the second half, Farmer was provided a second chance when Marcus Biles floated a pass toward the rim, where Farmer was waiting. Farmer made a clean catch high above the rim but seemed to let the ball slip at the last second, sending it sailing well over the rim and out of bounds.

"I told my teammates that it was the lights -- I blame it on that," Farmer said. "Hopefully I'll get a few more chances."

Charleston coach takes a first-round vacation

Charleston's Danny Farmer served a one-game suspension in the first round Thursday. Farmer was ejected from the Caruthersville game on Friday.

"Things got wild down there," assistant coach Jimmy Lincoln said of Charleston's win in the Bootheel.

If it's all about attitude, Dufek has the edge

Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott stopped practice earlier this week to explain a situation that could occur in the seMissourian Christmas Tournament. During the stoppage, junior Joe Dufek yelled at his teammates, "Come on guys, let's get it right."

When Scott asked Dufek to explain what the team was doing wrong, Dufek replied, "I don't know coach, I just don't want to run."

Central's Chestnutt is a crowd-pleaser

Central sophomore Scott Chestnutt came out of nowhere to block what looked to be an unchallenged Leopold layup early in the first quarter of the Tigers' first-round win. Chestnutt, who had been battling a cold, went high above the rim to swat the layup attempt away.

"I don't know where that came from," Chestnutt said of his crowd-pleasing block.

It's almost game time.Can we get dressed now?

When Scott City's basketball team arrived for its game against Meadow Heights, it didn't expect to wait for a room. The team spent 15 minutes standing in a hallway waiting for the Oran squad to clear out.

One player remarked: "This is great. We just got here and already we have distractions ... I just want to put my bag down."

-- Jeff Breer, Jeremy Joffray, Jamie Hall, David Unterreiner, David Wilson