NMCC puts on second-half clinic to earn spot in Showdown final

The New Madrid County Central Eagles put on a clinic after halftime of Friday's Poplar Bluff Showdown semifinal contest against Christian Brothers College out of St. Louis.

After the two teams played a close first half, NMCC defeated the Cadets after the intermission to win 80-65 and advance to Saturday's championship game at the Showdown.

Scoring began slowly in the first quarter, with CBC (5-5) holding a 7-2 lead halfway through the period. The Eagles (8-1) had trouble finding their scoring touch, missing jump shots and layups alike.

NMCC did manage to find a bit of offense, however, stringing together foul shots and breakaway layups to carve out a 17-15 edge at the end of the first.

The second quarter proceeded with more scoring struggles for each team, with shots bouncing off the rim on both ends whether it came from 3-point range or underneath the basket.

Despite the scoring frustrations, NMCC managed to head to the locker room at halftime with a slim 28-27 lead over the Cadets.

The Eagles looked like a different team in the third quarter, coming out with an 8-0 run before CBC hit a triple to cut the NMCC lead to 36-30.

Eagles forward Jadis Jones took over at that point, leading NMCC on an 8-2 run punctuated with an exclamation point slam dunk to extend the lead to 44-32.

The Eagles defense flew all over the court, disputing every pass, shot, and rebound, pushing their lead at the end of the third quarter to 57-39.

NMCC head coach Dontre’ Jenkins said he told his team at halftime, “We’ve been here before. We were missing easy buckets, and I told them to calm down, relax, and play ball.

“I said the first three minutes of the second half would be the most important. We wanted to come out and set that tone.”

The fourth quarter was much like the third, with NMCC exerting maximum pressure on both ends of the court. The Cadets tried to hang in with some timely three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Eagles’ tandem of Jones and B.J. Williamson, who helped open up a 68-49 lead halfway through the final period.

Jones led all scorers with 37 points, followed by Williamson with 25. CBC’s leading scorer was Terron Garrett with 21 points.

The last three minutes of the game slowed down with numerous fouls by CBC in an attempt to slow down the NMCC onslaught. The Eagles, however, were in complete control through the entire second half.

New Madrid will take on Vilonia (Arkansas) in the championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday, while CBC will face Memphis East at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the third-place game.