Key stretch for Central Friday involved forcing fouls from Farmington

The Central boys basketball team pulled away from Farmington in the fourth quarter of Friday night's home opener for the Tigers.

But the most important stretch of the game may have been a 4-minute, 25-second span to close out the third quarter when the Tigers just kept Farmington from pulling away.

The Black Knights, who had outscored the Tigers 16-5 in the first half whenever Central leading scorer Darnell Wilks was on the bench, had a chance to grab the momentum when Wilks picked up his fourth foul less than midway through the third period.

Instead, Central (4-3) fought to a standoff and inflicted plenty of foul trouble on the Black Knights.

"In the timeout midway through the third quarter, we talked about trying to get dribble penetration," Central coach Derek McCord said. "We wanted to spread the floor and penetrate and a lot of times, we were able to get to the free-throw line."

Central and Farmington played to a 9-9 draw during the stretch -- which ended the third period in a 45-45 tie -- and was 6-for-9 from the free-throw line. Farmington committed eight of its 33 fouls in the span.

Adrian Cox had a free throw and long 3-pointer in the run.

"Adrian has really been a surprise," McCord said. "He's shot the ball well for us."

Central's 45 trips to the free-throw line for the game were no accident. They made 29, while Farmington was 7-for-16.

"Our goal is we want to make more free throws than the other team attempts," McCord said. "We want to shoot 70 percent from the line, and we're right around 64, 65 percent. We've just got to get the right guys to the line."

The right guy in most situations Friday night was 6-foot-4 senior forward David Deisher, who had 10 points, 11 rebounds, six blocked shots, three steals and drew four charges.

"We just watched the tape, and Deisher was amazing," McCord said. "He's just the kind of player who doesn't do things he's not capable of. He plays hard all the time. Rebounding with him is all about position. I knew he could defend and rebound but his scoring has been a pleasant surprise."

Central suffered a setback Friday with a knee injury to senior guard William Zickfield, who had three rebounds before his injury early in the evening. McCord said the injury was to be examined Monday.

Central returns to action Tuesday with a SEMO Conference game at Kennett.

"They always play us tough down there," McCord said. "They're sneaky big. They always guard you well and put pressure on the ball. We've got to go after it like every other night. The thing with this team, they know they can't overlook anybody."