Focused 'Jays had little trouble

Basically, Charleston laid an egg in the last two University High School Christmas Tournaments.

Each of the last two years, the Bluejays (7-4) were the top seed but didn't appear hungry enough and failed to make the finals.

The top-seeded Bluejays, 54-44 winners over No. 3 Jackson in Saturday night's championship game at the Show Me Center, were definitely more motivated this year and their defense was the difference.

"We were focused the whole time," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer. "More than anything, we're listening better in practice. And when they started listening, they wanted to start playing as a team. We're believing in defense and to play it, you have to believe it."

Charleston's all-tournament member Lezcano Dean echoed Farmer's statement.

"We just started playing as a team, especially our team defense," Dean said. "We're working hard in practice. This is the best tournament we've had since I've been here. In the past, we've choked in tournaments, but finally we won one."

Jackson didn't play too badly on the defensive side of the ball, either.

The Indians held Charleston's Jordy Mixon to a tournament-low 19 points. Mixon averaged nearly 24 points per game in the tournament and scored a tournament-high 95 points.

None of Mixon's points came on easy fast-break layups as was the case in the first two games of the tournament.

"They weren't easy," said Jackson coach Mike Kiehne. "We were right there every time, he just made some tough shots."

Dean added 11 points for Charleston, which won its four tournament games by 41, 29, 21 and 10 points.

Tyler McNeely scored 10 points to lead Jackson (6-5).

Jackson proves tough

A recent Southeast Missouri basketball poll ranked Jackson 14th among the region's schools.

Kiehne used that as motivation to prepare for the tournament and the Indians responded, taking second place as the third seed and playing Charleston tough in the championship game.

"They did a great job," said Kiehne following Jackson's loss Saturday night. "I'm not dejected one bit. There were 14 teams in the stands watching, but we had the best seats in the house. We were where 14 other teams wanted to be. I'm proud of this team and especially the seniors."

Jackson has become the Atlanta Braves of the U-High Tournament.

The Indians are a tournament power, going to the finals eight times. Only Charleston (18), Cape Central (13), Scott County Central (10) and Notre Dame (9) have been to the championship game more often. But Jackson has won only one title, that coming when Kiehne played for the Indians in 1988.

Jackson, which lost to Advance last year, has been to the finals in three of the last four years. It has lost to Charleston five times, including three straight years from 1991 to 1993.

Tournament leaders

Mixon, the tournament's leading scorer, headlined the all-tournament team.

He and Dean both made the team from Charleston, while Seth McDowell and Jeffrey Beck -- who came up huge in Jackson's overtime win over Notre Dame Friday night -- represented Jackson.

The only other team to have two members was Bell City, which took fifth place. Dominitrix Johnson, a flashy point guard, and Carl Hadley, a an athletic 6-foot-4 forward transfer from St. Louis, both elevated their games during the tournament.

But it was odd that Oran had no members on the team considering it defeated Bell City in overtime and took fourth place. But no player for the Eagles particularly stood out.

Rounding out the all-tourney team were Notre Dame's Travis Siebert, Cape Central's Ryan Delph, Scott County Central's Chris Johnson and Delta's Craig Bock.

Dominitrix Johnson and Hadley were second and third in the tournament in scoring, with 76 and 75 points, respectively, both in four games.

Johnson was actually the tourney's leading scorer in per-game average as he had 73 points in three contests, an average of just over 24 points per outing.

Bock finished with 72 points in four games.

Surprising game

Arguably the most stunning game of the tournament ended up being No. 5 Bell City's 74-57 win over No. 7 Central in the fifth-place contest Saturday.

The Tigers had come off three solid performances, wins over Woodland and Advance and a close loss to No. 2 Notre Dame.

With the recent improvement of the young Central squad and with Bell City playing without leading scorer and returning all-stater Eric Henry, the Cubs' lopsided victory opened some eyes.

"Never in a million years would have I thought that," said Bell City coach David Heeb of the final score. "This was real big for our confidence because we won this game, two games really, without Eric."

Henry suffered a deep thigh bruise and the condition worsened due to a calcium deposit problem.

Heeb said Henry will be back within one to two weeks.

But the Cubs (9-3) exit the tournament standing tall nonetheless.

"Jason Rampley and Luke Phillips really gave us some leadership," Heeb said. "If they can keep playing physical like that and if Hadley and D.J. (Dominitrix Johnson) play like they did tonight, we could be really tough to beat.

"This whole tournament was a coming out party for Dominitrix."

Surprising team

No one talked much about Delta going into the tournament.

The Bobcats were just 1-6 going in and seeded 14th.

Delta, though, ended up going 2-2 in the tournament with an overtime loss to Scott City in the consolation championship game.

"Our goal was to play on Saturday," said Delta coach Robert Stein.

Mission accomplished.

Delta defeated Kelly and Woodland en route to the consolation final.

Led by tenacious point guard Lance Kinder, athletic forward Bock and physical center Joey Keys, Delta was perhaps the tournament's surprise team.

Delta actually led Jackson after the first quarter in the first round, but the Bobcats got into early foul trouble and Jackson coasted to a lopsided victory.

Stein is excited about the way his team is playing.

"One of the reasons we started winning is because Lance gained confidence in his teammates," said Stein. "He's good enough that he can take over a game, but we're at our best when he sets up Joey and Lance."

Kinder averaged eight assists per game during the tournament.