FINAL: HAWKS VS. 'JAYS; KELLY TOPS DEFENDING CHAMP CAPE CENTRAL

There will be a new University High School Christmas Tournament champion.

The No. 2 Kelly Hawks made sure of that by knocking off the defending-champion Cape Central Tigers 80-69 Monday night at the Show Me Center.

Kelly, now 10-0, advances to the championship game tonight at 8:30 to play No. 1 Charleston. Cape Central (5-3) plays No. 4 Scott City for third place at 7 p.m.

The Hawks led the entire second half with Central never getting closer than six points.

Jason Glastetter led the Hawks with 24 points, 17 coming in the second half. Jim Hulshof added 19 points for the Hawks with 14 of his coming before halftime. Denver Stuckey also hit double-digits with 13 points.

Sophomore Travis Williamson netted a game-high 25 points for the Tigers. Chris Bergerson scored 18 before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Kelly held a 58-50 lead entering the fourth quarter and the Tigers never got closer than six points the rest of the game. A bucket by Bergerson cut the Hawks' lead to 62-56 with 4:47 left, but that was as close as the Tigers could get.

Kelly controlled action for most of the first half. The Hawks led for the most part and held leads as big as nine points in the second quarter.

After taking a 19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter following a steal and assist from Mile Riley to Glastetter, the Hawks extended their lead in the second quarter. A basket by Hulshof put the Hawks up 25-16 with 6:20 left in the half.

Central went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to 25-22, but Kelly pushed the lead back to nine points late in the quarter on another bucket by Hulshof. The 6-foot-1 junior scored 12 points in the first half as Kelly took a 39-31 lead into halftime.

The Tigers had a chance to shrink Kelly's lead just before the half, but Tatum Kitchen's putback of a teammates' miss came just as the buzzer sounded and was not allowed.