~ The Tigers pulled out a 65-59 win over the Bluejays
The difference between Charleston remaining undefeated in the SEMO Conference and Central handing the Bluejays their first loss ultimately came down to one loose ball.
With 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining in Central and Charleston's game Tuesday night -- with Central clinging to a two-point lead -- the Bluejays' defense nearly forced a turnover, but in the fight for the loose ball Shandor Webster was whistled for a foul.
Central's Jalen Reddin hit both free throws in a one and one, and the Tigers eventually held on for a 65-59 victory at Charleston High School.
"I thought they just outplayed us. ... Right down there at the end when we had a chance, they beat us to the loose ball," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "They beat us to the loose balls that could've turned the game around, so they just kind of wanted the game a little bit more. I think we had a letdown from winning Saturday, come in here not ready to play Cape, a hungry Cape Central team. They're a good team -- ain't no doubt about it. We need to understand -- our kids -- that everybody we play is a good team."
Central led 58-44 with 5:42 remaining in the game before Charleston rattled off 12 unanswered points sparked by a Delfincko Bogan 3.
The Bluejays put a lot of pressure on Central and forced a couple of turnovers to pull within two points before Central coach Drew Church called a timeout with 2:37 to play.
"Just pressured the heck out of us like Charleston does," Church said with a smile. "Early in this season, if that would've happened, my team would've wilted. I'm glad to see playing all these close games helped us. They kind of had that grit to them and took care of the ball and made their free throws when it counted. Really just a tough effort in my opinion."
Church stressed to his players that they just needed to calm down during the timeout.
"We know in those situations that we've been in and we need to calm down and keep the ball out of certain spots on the court where they like to trap and find the right people to handle the ball," Church said. "Just not be in a hurry. And once we talked about that our kids did a good job of slowing down. We didn't need to score, we didn't need to make a spectacular play, just take care of the ball and make our free throws."
The Tigers hit 18 of 23 (78 percent) from the free-throw line in the game, including all three attempts in the final two minutes. A conventional 3-point play by Jamal Cox with 1:08 to play and a layup by Andre Statam in the final minute sealed the Tigers' victory.
Statam, who finished with 21 points, did not score until five minutes remained in the first half.
"In the past two games I kind of forced it a lot and was playing a little bit too fast," Statam said. "Tonight I passed the ball around and it got back to me and I made some shots."
Central sophomore Al Young led all scorers with 27 points and hit all three of his team's 3-pointers.
Statam and Young combined for 15 of Central's 19 points in a pivotal second quarter.
After trailing 16-11 after the first quarter, Central outscored the Bluejays 19-8 in the second to take a 30-24 lead into halftime. Both teams scored 18 points in the third and 17 points in the fourth.
The Tigers capitalized on Robert Bogan, who Farmer considers his team's best defender, being taken out of the game with foul trouble for most of the second quarter.
When he picked up his third foul with 4:09 remaining in the first half, Central took its lead back for good and was able to get a little separation before halftime.
Central, which defeated Charleston 71-47 in the semifinal round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, also was able to slow down Charleston's Delfincko Bogan. Delfincko Bogan was held to four points in the first quarter, and didn't score the rest of the first half before finishing with 17 to lead the Bluejays.
"If you leave him open he makes shots, if he gets in the lane he's going to find somebody open, and I thought we did a good job of limiting what he could do," Church said. "He gave the ball up a lot. I thought some other guys stepped up and made some shots, but our key was him."
Central 11 19 18 17 -- 65
Charleston 16 8 18 17 -- 59
CENTRAL (65) -- Al Young 27, Jalen Reddin 4, Jamal Cox 11, Mikey Jones 2, Andre Statam 21. FG 22, FT 18-23, F 17. (3-pointers: Young 3. Fouled out: None.)
CHARLESTON (59) -- Christian Allen 5, Robert Bogan 9, Delfincko Bogan 17, Demontrail Clark 4, Shandor Webster 13, Michael Kellum 2, Timontrell Horton 9. FG 26, FT 7-12, F 19. (3-pointers: Allen 1, R. Bogan 1, D. Bogan 3, Clark 1, Webster 2. Fouled out: None.)
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