Charleston boys cool off Jackson with 63-48 SEMO Conference win

CHARLESTON -- In its climb to the top of the SEMO Conference and superiority in Southeast Missouri, the Jackson boys basketball team has beaten Notre Dame twice, Sikeston twice and Cape Central three times.

But the Indians don't have the answer for Charleston, the Class 3 defending state champion that has ridden a roller coaster to a 13-7 record.

The Bluejays were back on a high note Tuesday night, dominating Jackson 63-48 in the SEMO Conference meeting. The contest looked like a continuation of Charleston's 63-56 victory in the SEMO Conference championship, when it outscored Jackson 28-13 to close out the win.

"We wanted to make them play a little faster than they wanted to play," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "We thought if we got them to play at our pace, they would exert a lot of energy, and we wanted to get them tired because they're so big."

The Bluejays looked quicker from the opening tip, sprinting to an 8-0 lead in the opening 90 seconds. Jackson climbed back to 8-7, but never led and was always trying to keep Charleston from running away.

"They were very ready to play," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "They got us in a hole and we were constantly trying to fight back.

"I thought defensively, they were very good. We weren't getting the good looks early. They used their quickness to get us out of our rhythm and we could never get it back."

Senior post player Hunter Grantham accounted for most of Jackson's offense in the first half, scoring all 14 of his points in the opening 16 minutes as Charleston built a 30-23 lead.

Jackson's best push came after Charleston had upped the lead to 37-27 midway through the third period.

Spencer Goodman and Jake Leet sandwiched baskets around a 3-pointer by Kyle Keith in a 7-0 run that cut the lead to 37-34 with 1:33 to play in the third. But Grantham picked up his fourth foul seconds later, and Charleston went on a 4-0 run to close the quarter with baskets by Brian Parham and Antonio Riggens, who made a backcourt steal and laid in a basket with 3 seconds to go in the period. From there, the Bluejays finally did run away.

Grantham led the Indians with 14, while Leet scored 13 and Goodman had 11. The Indians had two 3-pointers all night.

"We were worried about Leet and didn't want Goodman to be able to penetrate the middle," Farmer said. "We wanted Leet to work for everything he got and hopefully he would get tired."

"For our offense, it was just tough all night," Scott said. "We just couldn't get the ball down low into the post."

Parham led all scorers with 24 points, while Fred Pratt added 13 for the Bluejays.

Jackson fell to 7-1 in conference play -- Sikeston also has one loss in league action -- and 15-7 overall. The Indians have Central and New Madrid Central yet to play.

As for the struggles against the Bluejays, who have three conference losses, Scott said, "Charleston is tough because they're physical and they didn't allow us to set up and get into our offense. Against Notre Dame, and Sikeston as well, they allowed us to get into our offense."

Jackson 15 8 11 14 -- 48

Charleston 18 12 11 22 -- 63

Jackson (48) -- Marcus Harris 2, Kyle Keith 3, Andrew Shrum 2, Spencer Goodman 11, Matt Lang 3, Jake Leet 13, Hunter Grantham 14. FG 19, FT 8-11, F 20 (3-pointers: Keith 1, Leet 1. Fouled out: none)

Charleston (63) -- Antonio Riggens 8, Marquez Ware 4, Allen Hemphill 5, Fred Pratt 13, Donald Dixon 9, Brian Parham 24. FG 27, FT 8-17, F 17 (3-pointers: Riggens 1. Fouled out: Dixon)