Jackson boys basketball team falls to New Madrid County Central in conference semifinal

SIKESTON, Mo. -- New Madrid County Central wasn't the only team top-seeded Jackson battled Thursday night.

The Indians also had to fight themselves.

Despite struggling from the field all night, the Indians went on a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter and cut the Eagles' lead to 48-45 with less than five minutes remaining.

That didn't sit well with NMCC senior Willie Jimerson, who scored eight of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter and powered the fifth-seeded Eagles to a 59-49 win over the Indians in a SEMO Conference Tournament semifinal at Sikeston High School.

The 5-foot-10 Jimerson did most of his damage from the charity stripe, where he finished a perfect 10 of 10 on the night, including six crucial shots in the fourth quarter.

"That was big-time," NMCC coach Travis Day said. "When he stepped up, we said, 'Hey, you're a senior. Let's do what seniors do now. Step up, knock two down and let's finish this thing out.'"

The win advances the fifth-seeded Eagles (5-0) to the championship game at 8:30 p.m. today against seventh-seeded Poplar Bluff, while the Indians (1-1) will take on sixth-seeded Charleston at 7 p.m. in the third-place game. The Mules defeated the Bluejays 76-67 in Thursday's second semifinal.

"Give New Madrid credit. I thought they came out and played really well," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "We took some things away from Willie and the other kids. We wanted to get at them, but they made some shots. They played extremely hard defensively. You've got to give them a lot of credit."

The Indians took an early lead in the first quarter before NMCC got its first lead of the game with just under three minutes remaining in the period.

After Jackson regained the lead, a 3-pointer by Javarcus Word put the Eagles ahead for good at 14-12 with 1:45 left in the quarter.

The Indians trailed 17-12 at the end of the period but were kept alive by a pair of treys from Garrett Walker, who finished the game 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.

"Sometimes when you hit those 3s early, I don't want to say it's fool's gold, but it is a little bit because then you kind of stop attacking and stop getting the ball where you need it to be," Scott said. "For us, we need to get the ball inside and let Blake [Reynolds] touch it or just get some movement offensively to get some penetration so we force them into some rotations. I thought early we made a couple shots, and then we stood after that and that really allowed them to pressure us defensively."

The 6-foot-7 Reynolds scored his first bucket with 2:17 remaining in the first half, but it was too late for the Indians, who failed to find an answer for the Eagles' Javarcus Word.

New Madrid County Central's Willie Jimerson drives past Jackson's Connor Shepard in the first quarter during a semifinal at the SEMO Conference Tournament Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 in Sikeston, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

The sophomore guard was asked to step up in the second quarter after Jimerson got into foul trouble. Word responded by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second quarter.

"With him being a sophomore, this is his first year, and we're asking him to handle the ball more, where we can get Willie off the ball a little bit more. When Willie got in foul trouble, he stepped up," Day said. "He did what we asked him to do, be a leader, control the game and have scoring opportunities, and he had a big quarter for us."

The Indians shot 8 of 26 (31 percent) from the field in the first half and trailed the Eagles 28-22 at the break.

"We were rushed. You could just tell we were going a little bit too fast," Scott said about his team's first-half shot selection. "For these guys, like I told them in the locker room, it's our second game. Basketball's a long season. *... We've got some kids that can play. We've just got to learn and grow from what we did tonight, try to get better [Friday] night and just keep it up."

NMCC outscored Jackson 18-14 in the third quarter to extend its lead to 10 points heading into the final quarter.

The Eagles' Kiel Causey hit a trey in the corner to close out the quarter. The shot was one of two late 3-pointers that Scott believes was the difference in the game.

"We fought hard to get it back to three. If they don't hit those, we could've fought back to tie it, and it would have been a different game. So I thought those shots were huge for them," Scott said.

NMCC slowed down the inside presence of Reynolds, who was held to 12 points on 4 of 14 (29 percent) shooting. He also added nine boards and three blocks.

"In the second half, I thought he caught it a lot more. We'd like for him to catch it a little bit lower," Scott said. "*... I thought offensively in the second half we didn't play well. We did things we wanted to do. We just missed some shots that we need to make. *... I know we rebounded a lot better in the second half."

The Indians outrebounded the Eagles 30-24 but finished the game 16 of 53 (30 percent) from the field.

Day said he made it a point of emphasis to limit Reynolds' opportunities in the paint.

"Our game plan with him was to just make him earn it. A good player like that, they're going to put the ball in the hole," Day said. "You're not going to be able to stop him, but you just want him to earn everything he gets."

The Eagles finished 20 of 45 (44 percent) from the field, including 6 of 12 (50 percent) from 3-point range. NMCC's Drew Palmer was 3 of 7 from beyond the arc, finishing with 14 points.

The Indians were able to slow down NMCC on the fast break in the second half. Scott said he was pleased with his team's defensive adjustments.

"In the second half, I felt like we did more of what we want to do," Scott said. "We were just down in a hole, and I thought they played really well."

Senior Braden Wendel contributed a team-high 15 points for the Indians.

"The key here is getting better, so we're going to watch some film, see the things we did well, see the things we didn't do well," Scott said. "We're going to try and go fix those and get better."

Day said he's pleased to see his team advance.

"My goal always in a tournament is to try and win more games than we lose," Day said. "We have an opportunity to do that, win lose or draw tomorrow. I'm proud of the guys."

The Eagles' win is just one of five upsets so far in the tournament. Scott believes the seedings, which are determined before the start of the season, can sometimes be inaccurate.

"This year, we have two starters back and a lot of guys that we think are going to be good players, but they've just got to keep growing. It's the same thing with Sikeston and all those guys. Cape [Central] coming off football season, it's tough for them to get going," Scott said. "Every team in the SEMO Conference can beat just about anybody on any given night, so this is a great tournament to watch if you're a fan and you like to see teams play some great games."

NMCC 17 11 18 13 -- 59

Jackson 12 10 14 13 -- 49

NMCC (59) -- Willie Jimerson 18, Javarcus Word 15, Drew Palmer 14, Asten Newsom 6, Kiel Causey 5, Mikael Walker 1. FG 20-45. FT 13-18, F 13 (3 pointers: Palmer 3, Word 2, Causey 1)

JACKSON (49) -- Braden Wendel 15, Blake Reynolds 12, Garrett Walker 9, Connor Shepard 6, Stephen Irons 5, Jacob Smith 1, Cameron Hester 1. FG 16-53, FT 10-15, F 16 (3-pointers: Walker 3, Wendel 2, Irons 1, Reynolds 1)