Jackson wins in OT, sets up a shot at Central

Close finishes are getting to be second nature for Jackson.

Less than 24 hours after Jackson lost to Bell City in overtime, the Indians beat Scott City 61-58 in overtime in a fifth-place semifinal game Saturday at the seMissourian Christmas Tournament.

"We just want people to get their money's worth," Jackson coach Mike Kiehn said.

Jackson started slowly and watched Scott City build a 23-16 lead after the first quarter and a 37-30 edge at halftime.

"We didn't match their intensity," Kiehn said. "We were sluggish."

Jackson's Tyler Boyd led all scorers at halftime with nine points and the Indians' other Tyler was nowhere to be found. McNeely had just two points and four rebounds at the break.

But whatever funk held back the Indians in the first half was gone in the second. Jackson (5-3) dropped a trio of 3-pointers on the Rams (6-2) after halftime and cut the lead to two going into the fourth quarter.

"There was nothing big we changed -- we just played more active defensively," Kiehne said of the second-half turnaround that sent Jackson into the fifth-place final against Central at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Tyler McNeely pushed Jackson into a tie with eight seconds left on a free throw. The second shot missed, and after another foul Jeff Beck had a chance to win it with a jumpshot in the paint. That also missed.

"Inside we tired, but we didn't want to show that we were tired. We had to overcome that, and we stepped up," Boyd said.

Beck knocked down four free throws in four attempts in overtime, including a pair in the waning moments to put Jackson up by three.

"He's a steady for us. You can count on him down the stretch," Kiehne said.

Beck said that's just how he was taught to shoot free throws. "Don't focus on your surroundings," he said

The Rams' last-ditch shot -- a Jeremy Schlosser 3-point try at the buzzer -- rolled off the rim.

Boyd finished with 16 points, and McNeely had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead Jackson. D.J. Walton led the Rams with 14 points and eight rebounds.

"They just made more plays than us to get the win," Scott City coach Kerry Thompson said. "But that was a good game between two teams that were really battling to play Monday night."-- David Wilson

Central 71, Kelly 54

There's often a fine line between winning and losing.

Over the past two days at the seMissourian Christmas Tournament, it's been a free-throw line for the Central Tigers.

After poor foul shooting helped banish the Tigers from title contention in the quarterfinals, Central bounced back with 34 points from the charity stripe on Saturday and used its rediscovered touch to defeat Kelly in the fifth-place semifinals.

The Tigers (7-3) went into the fourth quarter trailing 44-42 but connected on 21 of 28 attempts in the period to overtake and then pull away from the Hawks.

Junior point guard Will Johnson led the way by hitting 8 of 10 in the fourth quarter. He scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the period.

"We shot horrible last night," Johnson said. "Basically in the shootaround today we basically focused on hitting free throws."

The Tigers hit on just 17 of 32 free throws in Friday's 66-57 loss to Oran. It drove home a point.

"Big time," Johnson said. "We missed 15 free throws last night, and we lost by a few. If we hit our free throws we probably could have pulled that win out against Oran. It made us realize we need to shoot more free throws."

"It was hard last night to lose a game like that," said junior Ryan Delph, who added half of his 12 points at the line. "We talked about it before the game that it was probably going to come down to free throws."

Kelly, which held a slim lead most of the game, had 24 field goals to Central's 17. The Tigers outscored the Hawks 34-3 at the line.

The loss eliminated Kelly (4-5) from the tournament.

"They shot 47 free throws to our seven, but the officials didn't beat us -- we beat ourselves," Kelly coach Nick Lanpher said.

For the second straight day the ninth-seeded Hawks faced one of the top four seeds in the tournament and held their own for a duration.

Kelly led top-seeded Charleston in the second quarter and trailed by just four points at halftime before suffering a 69-44 loss.

Kelly battled Central to a 32-32 halftime deadlock and only trailed momentarily in the third quarter. Trey Simmons, who finished with a team-high 17 points, broke a 42-42 deadlock when he scored after the Hawks broke the Tigers' full-court pressure with 1:39 left in the period.

Delph tied the game 44-44 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to begin a run of 17 straight Tiger possessions that netted points. The Tigers went to the free-throw line on 13 of the possessions and Central's press took a heavy toll with six turnovers.

Jay Ruark kicked in Central's free-throw bonanza by sinking a pair with 6:43 left for a 46-44 lead. Kelly's Major Burger knotted the score 46-46 the next trip down the floor, but Johnson put Central ahead for good when he crossed the lane with a drive and banked in a one-handed shot with 5:56 left.

The Tigers followed it up with five free throws for a 7-0 run and 54-46 lead. Ahead 57-51 with 3:01 left, Central went on a 13-1 run to ice the game.

Scott Chestnutt finished with 16 points for the Tigers.

Burger added 11 points for Kelly.

-- Jeff Breer