Central's upset bid falters in stretch

CEDAR HILL — Central's Josh Harris drove in for a layup and got his shot to fall against Poplar Bluff and his team down four points with two and a half minutes remaining.

But Harris was called for a charge, which was his fifth foul. So instead of going to the free-throw line with a chance to cut the deficit to one point, Harris went to the bench with his team still down by four and losing steam.

Top-seeded Poplar Bluff scored a field goal on its next possession to increase its lead to six points and held on for the 55-48 victory in the Class 5 District 1 championship game Friday at Northwest High School.

"I think a turning point in the game was that we penetrated hard down by four and got that charge called on us and it was a tough call," Central coach Drew Church said. "Block, charge, whatever, but that really turned the tide. [Getting the call in our favor would have] put us down one or two and then we've got a chance to try to play good defense and get a steal and now it goes the other way and they scored. And they just executed down the stretch."

After the charge, Poplar Bluff (17-9) went ahead 52-44 on a field goal by Chris Kilgore. The Mules increased the lead to eight points 30 seconds later and never let Central (10-17) back within six points the rest of the way.

"We were just careless with the ball and we were trying to force things that weren't there," Central's Andrew Williams said about the final two minutes. "They had good pressure on us and we just fell apart."

The other turning point was the way Kilgore played during the second half. After scoring just one point in the first half, Kilgore poured in 17 points after halftime, including 14 in the third when his team outscored the Tigers 25-17. He also had a powerful dunk to close out the third quarter.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Central's Josh Harris brings the ball upcourt Friday during the Class 5 District 1 championship at Northwest High School.

"We went into halftime and coach told us we were playing good on defense, but he said we needed to make more of our shots," Kilgore said. "He told me, 'Chris, don't be scared to shoot.' So I just came out in the second half and listened to my coach."

Kilgore and teammate Jay Raulston each netted 18 points.

"We didn't think he was much of a shooter," Williams said of Kilgore. "In the first half, we held him pretty good. But then the second half, we were playing off toward the middle and he started to hit some shots. And then we started to get out on him and then the rest of his teammates started hitting. They are just a good shooting team."

Church said he knew Kilgore could shoot well from about 15 feet away.

"We were going to let him shoot from outside, but he executed well in getting in there and getting open," Church said. "He hit some big shots and that hurt us."

Central struggled to score early. It only had two points in the first quarter and missed a number of shots around the basket. Blake Ozbun and Rick Russell each missed shots around the hoop, while Harris had a shot blocked when he was driving in. Williams was called for a charge when he penetrated to the basket.

"We had good shots and layups, they just didn't go in," Church said. "That happens sometimes. But we didn't quit. We kept going at it.

"I was proud of the way we never quit. We went down 10. We went down eight and we always fought back. That's kind of been the story of this team all year."

After being down eight points after the first quarter, Central battled back and took a 16-14 lead with 2:35 left before halftime.

Kevin Casasola helped the second-quarter rally with seven points, including a 3-pointer.

"I just tried to play my game and help the team out, make us better and give us a chance to win," Casasola said.

Central's lead lasted for just 12 seconds. After Poplar Bluff went ahead 18-16, it led the rest of the game.

Casasola led Central with 17 points. He had three 3-pointers.

"We played a great team tonight and give them a lot of credit," Casasola said. "Next year is going to be a good season for us. We just have to improve over the summer."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Central 2 14 17 15 — 48

Poplar Bluff 10 8 25 12 — 55

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:CENTRAL (48) — Andrew Williams 8, James Lane 10, Josh Harris 3, Kevin Casasola 17, Rick Russell 6, Zach Boerboom 4. FG 19, FT 4-6, F 17. (3-pointers: Williams 2, Casasola 3. Fouled out: Williams, Harris, Russell)

POPLAR BLUFF (55) — Ben Knuckles 2, Greg Coble 2, Chris Kilgore 18, Jay Raulston 18, Todd Bullington 2, Riley Raulston 9, Jake White 2, Eljie Johnson 2. FG 19, FT 16-24, F 11. (3-pointers: Riley Raulston 1. Fouled out: None)