Love moves into state finals

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Jackson 152-pound senior James Love will wrestle for the Class 4A championship today.

Love improved his record to 29-3 after he won a pair of tough matches at the Missouri State Tournament on Friday, including a 7-5 semifinal victory over T.C. Brown-Epperson of Ft. Zumwalt West.

Earlier, in the quarterfinals, Love had defeated Oak Park's Elisha Bears 6-3.

Jackson 140-pound senior Ricky Feiner (38-8) lost his semifinal match 12-6 to Oakville's Jake Dieffenbach. Feiner, who beat Kickapoo's Ryan Freeman 9-6 in the quarterfinals, can still finish as high as third and no worse than sixth today.

Jackson 112-pound sophomore Brock Howard (41-3) also remained alive for a finish as high as third and no worse than sixth as he won both his wrestleback matches after losing in the quarterfinals.

The other three Jackson grapplers who had won first-round matches on Thursday were eliminated. Freshman 130-pounder Cody Rouse (34-12), senior 215-pounder Seth Harrell (32-5) and senior heavyweight Luke Wade (35-10) all lost in the quarterfinals and wrestlebacks.

Cape Girardeau Central's lone state qualifier, junior 160-pounder Trever Duncan (25-14), was eliminated as he lost in the quarterfinals and wrestlebacks after having won his opening-round match on Thursday.

Boys' basketball

Park Hills Central 65, Jackson 64

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Park Hills Central's Dominique Conrad hit a runner with seven seconds left to nip Jackson.

Tyler McNeely's two free throws with less than 30 seconds remaining had put the Indians up by one before Conrad's game-winner for Central (22-2). Seth McDowell led Jackson (14-11) with 23 points. Lance Bollinger scored 16, Nathan Brown 12 and McNeely 10.

Oran 80, Chaffee 51

ORAN, Mo. -- Nathan Seyer pumped in 27 points while Ryne Wood hit five 3-pointers and 21 points to lead Oran. The Eagles (17-6, 5-0) also got 13 points from Patrick Friga.

For Chaffee (6-16, 0-5), Josh Lamer scored 12 points. Chase Eskew and James Reischman had 10 apiece.

Scott City 58, Senath-Hornersville 50

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- D. J. Walton scored 21 points to help Scott City (10-12) climb closer to the .500 mark after an 0-5 start.

St. Vincent 74, Meadow Heights 55

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Tyler Wengert scored 17 points, Adam Bockman had 12 and Aaron Rellergert added 10 to lead St. Vincent (12-9). For Meadow Heights (13-9), Josh Mayfield had 19 points and Joey Bell 16.

Advance 79, Scott County Central 71

MORLEY, Mo. -- Jared Ritter scored 28 points, Andrew Jenkins added 15 and Cain Kelley had 11 to lead Advance (16-8). Chris Johnson led SCC (14-9) with 20 points. Chris Pullen had 15, Terrance Williams 14 and Desmen Johnson 11.

Leopold 62, Delta 57

DELTA, Mo. -- Josh Van de Ven scored 17 points and Kevin Holzum added 15 as Leopold (9-13, 4-1) notched a Mississippi Valley Conference victory. Delta (8-15, 2-3) got 19 points from Lance Kinder and 11 each from Craig Bock and Joey Keys.

Oak Ridge 61, Zalma 51

OAK RIDGE, Mo. -- Jeff Cowan and Clayton Ruesler each scored 16 points to lead Oak Ridge (8-15, 3-2) to a Mississippi Valley Conference victory.

Zalma (2-17, 0-5) got 18 points from Chad Wiseman and 12 from Steven McCain.

Marquand 77, Kingston 48

MARQUAND, Mo. -- Marquand (12-11) won its fourth in a row behind Heath Stephens' 27 points.

Jared and Nick Kunz scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Southern Missouri 78, Eagle Ridge 71

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Eagle Ridge Christian of Cape Girardeau began round-robin play in the three-team Ozark Christian Conference Tournament with a loss to Southern Missouri Christian.

Andrew Mellies scored 27 points for Eagle Ridge (9-10), which got 20 points from Mike Propst and 15 from Daniel Ellinghouse.

Ross Whelan paced Southern Missouri with 28 points.

Girls' basketball

Eagle Ridge 64, New Salem 34

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Eagle Ridge Christian defeated New Salem Baptist to finish round-robin play in the three-team Ozark Christian Conference Tournament with a 2-0 record as it captured the title for the third straight season.

Amber Karnes poured in a career-high 32 points for Eagle Ridge (15-3). Rachel Carbaugh and Cara Ervin added 12 points apiece.

New Salem got 11 points from Sarah Green and 10 from Jennifer Meek.

--From staff reports