CHICKASAWS DROP TIGERS INTO CONSOLATION BRACKET

SIKESTON -- The Cape Central Tigers controlled most of the action Monday night in their opening-round game of the 26th Annual Sikeston Invitational Tournament against Blytheville, Ark.

But the fifth-seeded Chickasaws controlled the final three minutes, outscoring the fourth-seeded Tigers 9-2 to earn a 56-49 victory.

Blytheville, now 6-0, advances to a semifinal tonight against the top-seeded New Madrid County Central Eagles (0-2). New Madrid earned a bye to the semis in the seven-team field.

With the loss, Central gets a bye to the consolation championship Friday at 6 p.m.

The Tigers led Blytheville after each of the first three quarters of play, but trailing 36-35 entering the final quarter, the Chickasaws outscored Central 21-13. Despite being the higher-seeded team, Central coach Brett Reutzel wasn't disappointed by his team's play early in the game against the always athletic Chickasaws.

"It's encouraging to play Blytheville this close," Reutzel said. "They're the fifth-seeded team, but they're certainly not the fifth-best team here."

The fourth quarter was a shootout from the start, with Blytheville taking a 38-36 lead after a conventional three-point play by James Cullins. Blytheville never lost that lead, but the Tigers matched every basket the Chickasaws scored until the final minutes.

The fifth tie of the quarter came after an Aron Meystedt 3-pointer knotted the score 47-47. Meystedt led the Tigers for the third time this year with 14 points. Chris Bergerson added 13 for Central.

Travis Williams led Blytheville with 17 points and was a key contributor in the fourth quarter. Williams scored eight points over the final eight minutes, including three free throws late.

A basket by Blytheville's Kenric Partee with 2:45 left made the score 49-47 and put the Chickasaws ahead for good.

"Late ... it turned into the type of game we didn't want," said Reutzel of the fast-paced fourth quarter. "We needed to get the ball inside, but we weren't patient enough."

Leading 26-22 at halftime, Central stumbled out of the blocks and didn't score until the 4:15-mark of the third quarter. By then, Blytheville had gone on a 9-0 run to take a 31-26 lead.

Using pressure defense, the Tigers strung together a scoring run of their own from that point, netting the next 10 points to take a 36-31 lead. But Blytheville scored the final four points of the quarter to trail only 36-35 entering the decisive final quarter.