New Madrid repeats as Sikeston champ

SIKESTON, Mo. -- New Madrid County Central, the two-time defending Class 3A state champion, captured its third straight Sikeston Invitational boys basketball tournament title by defeating Poplar Bluff 62-53 Friday night.

The top-seeded Eagles (4-0) were led by Dereke Tipler with 23 points. Also in double figures were Ronland Ranson with 15 and Terrance Smith with 12. The third-seeded Mules (5-1) got 14 points from Tony Webb and 12 from Cheron Pearson.

Kennett, seeded seventh out of eight teams, captured third place by beating No. 5 Blytheville (Ark.) 58-55 on Tyree Goolsby's 3-pointer just before the buzzer. The Indians (4-1) were paced by Goolsby with 22 points and Dustin Pritchett with 10. Blytheville (3-5) received 11 points from both Jermaine Orr and Daniel Smith.

In the consolation final, No. 2 Charleston beat No. 4 Sikeston 71-65. The Bluejays (2-2) got 24 points from Jordy Mixon, 12 from both Dontay Clark and Ashton Farmer and 10 from Jemorrio Betts. The Bulldogs (3-3) were led by Lontas McClinton with 24 points, Justin Freeman with 15 and Lavar Morgan with 15.

Woodland 57, Chaffee 51

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Woodland took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter and held off Chaffee down the stretch.

Michael Owens led Woodland (4-1) with 14 points, Travis Benfield scored 12 and Luke Johnson added 10.

Chase Eskew tallied 14 points before fouling out for Chaffee. Sam Burnett added 12 points and Andrew Horrell finished with 11.

Woodland led 34-27 at halftime, but Chaffee (0-2) closed the gap to 40-39 by the end of the third quarter.

Chaffee shot just 20 of 33 from the free-throw line, a stat not lost on head coach David Mirly.

"Free throws hurt us," said Mirly. "We're a better shooting team than we showed tonight. We have to do a lot of things right to win because we're such a small team, and tonight we didn't hit our free throws."

Advance 54, Puxico 37

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Advance continued its solid start by easing past Puxico.

The Hornets (4-1) were led offensively by Jared Ritter with 16 points, 12 coming on four 3-pointers. Andrew Jenkins added 13 points and Chris Walker had 12.

Advance, ahead just 23-20 at halftime, outscored Puxico 17-6 in the third quarter.

Scott Central 87, Oak Ridge 53

MORLEY, Mo. -- Chris Pullen scored 20 points to lead the Braves.

Also in double figures for Scott County Central were Terrance Williams with 17 points, Desmen Johnson with 11 and Chris Johnson with 10.

Oak Ridge got 14 points from Clayton Ruesler, 11 from Jeff Cowan and 10 from Adam Hahs.

Eagle Ridge splits

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- Eagle Ridge Christian School of Cape Girardeau split a pair of games in the 12-team Christian Outreach Invitational, which featured two halves of play instead of four quarters in each contest.

Eagle Ridge (3-2) fell to Christian Academy of St. Louis 47-35 despite 13 points from Mike Probst, then beat Tower Grove Christian of St. Louis 41-27 as Probst and Andrew Mellies each scored 17 points.

The Eagles will play host Christian Outreach at 10:15 a.m. today in the consolation semifinals.

--From staff reports