JACKSON ACCEPTS LATE CHARITY, PULLS AWAY FROM ORAN 68-48

Perhaps it was written on the wind that the area that vexed Jackson High most in the opening 14 minutes would wind up buoying them to victory.

After flubbing six of their first eight free throws and finding themselves leading Oran by only six points early in the fourth quarter, Jackson proceeded to knock down 17 of 21 from the line in the final period and emerged a 68-48 winner in a University High School Christmas Tournament quarterfinal game Monday at the Show Me Center.

"We shoot free throws every day," said Jackson guard Justin Suedmeyer, "and that's something that he (coach Steve Burk) really wants us to concentrate on. They don't always lose the game for you, but they sure can win it for you."

That they did, and now Jackson will take on Cape Girardeau Central tonight at 7:30 in a semifinal contest.

With Oran trailing just 39-33 40 seconds into the fourth quarter after Billy Loper's putback, Burk instructed his Indians to force the issue against the Eagles' contact-prone pressure.

"They got up so tight that we kept telling our guards that you've got to penetrate on them," Burk said.

And after drawing the resulting fouls, "we knocked them down," Burk said. "But in the first half we didn't hit anything from the line."

More precisely, Jackson made 29 of 43 from the stripe in the game after hitting 12 of 22 through three quarters.

Jackson guard Levi Bollinger, a 6-foot junior, made all seven of his free throws in the fourth and finished with a team-high 14 points, three steals and three assists. Doug Cary, a senior guard, sank three 3-pointers and contributed 12 points. Cory Daniel and John Oehl each pulled down eight rebounds.

Oran's Loper, a 6-5 senior center, tallied a game-high 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Oran coach Mitch Wood said his team, with its shallow bench, simply wore down in the closing minutes against rested Jackson.

"We get a little weaker once we come off the bench," Wood said. "They (Jackson) turned it up and they did a good job of making us handle the ball."

Said Burk, whose No. 2-seeded Indians moved to 7-1: "I thought the second half our defense was better. We've still got a long way to go, but I thought we took a step in the right direction tonight."

That step started with Jackson's 13-4 spurt early in the last quarter. The Indians' six-point edge grew to 15 by the 4:38 mark as Cary hit a 3, Daniel drained a jumper, Suedmeyer hit four free throws and Tory Meyr capped the burst with a four-point play.

From there the game consisted largely of Jackson lofting free throw after free throw. Oran, 5-3 and the No. 10 seed, began firing 3s in an effort to shrink the margin, but the shots didn't fall as the Indians' charity attempts did.

Neither team played particularly well in the first half. Oran got just six points in the first quarter as Jackson held a 12-6 advantage after eight minutes. The Indians led 25-21 at halftime.