Chestnutt leads Central past NMCC

Some of his teammates nicknamed him "Too Tall."

On Friday night, Scott Chestnutt could have nicknamed New Madrid County Central's defense "too easy."

Chestnutt contributed 10 fourth-quarter points as Central held off NMCC 74-69 in a SEMO Conference game.

Chestnutt finished with a game-high 32 points.

After a lackluster third quarter, NMCC (4-10) surged in the fourth quarter with 28 points. But thanks in part to solid free-throw shooting, the Tigers (11-4) held off the Eagles' run.

"We hit some clutch free throws down the stretch," Central coach Derek McCord said after his team improved to 3-1 in home games this season.

Junior point guard Will Johnson was 4-of-6 from the line in the fourth quarter and Ryan Delph went 3-of-4.

"They wanted it more than us, and that's the bottom line," Eagles coach David Fields said.

The Tigers exploded early, getting two dunks from Chestnutt in the first minute to round a quick start by NMCC. Chestnutt scored 10 in the first quarter.

"Those dunks really got the crowd going. When New Madrid called timeout, my kids couldn't even hear me," McCord said. "It's a big home-court advantage."

The second quarter got sloppy for both teams, but Central held on for a 31-29 halftime lead

It didn't take long for Central to figure out NMCC's full-court pressure defense after the break. The Tigers scored 24 points in the third quarter.

"We really started to attack in the middle," McCord said. "The hotter the press gets, the more we want to attack and we got some easy baskets."

"We were flat in the third quarter," Field said. "We got beat down the floor and allowed way too many easy baskets."

While Central was red-hot, NMCC's shooting went cold. A two-and-a-half-minute scoring drought sent the Eagles further behind.

NMCC began to climb back in the fourth and went on an eight-point run midway through the quarter. Central's brief drought was ended when Chestnutt came through again.

Chestnutt finished with a double-double with 32 points,13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in spite of two days of missed practice because of a sore ankle this week.

"I did all right," Chestnutt said.

Fields was more complimentary.

"We let a 6-foot-8 kid do whatever he wanted to," he said. "We'd all love to have a big guy like that. He's a player."

Johnson finished with 18 points, including six of nine from the free-throw line in the second half.

"Will Johnson grew up tonight," McCord said.

Central outrebounded its opponent 28-27. Rebounding, McCord said, was "a point of emphasis" in practice all week.

Mackal Kimball led NMCC with 15, Dominic Betts had 13 and Edgar Givens added 10. Ryan Delph had 11 for Central.