NO. 1 CHARLESTON BARELY AVOIDS WOODLAND UPSET

With an opportunity to send his team into a second overtime with the top-seeded Charleston Blue Jays, Woodland sophomore Jason Greer calmly drained a jumper at the buzzer that he thought had knotted the game.

As the horn sounded, Greer jumped excitedly in the air with what he thought was a game-tying basket. But Greer's 17-footer was worth only two points and Charleston escaped with a 63-62 overtime victory at the Show Me Center.

The Blue Jays improved to 8-1 and now advance into the University High School Christmas Tournament semifinals Monday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Saturday's late game between No. 4 Scott City and No. 5 Delta.

Woodland, the No. 9 seed that won a 58-57 nail-biter over Oran late Friday, dropped its record to 7-2 and plays the loser of Scott City-Delta at 4 p.m. Monday.

"Jason thought we needed two (points)," said Woodland coach Jennings Wilkinson. "It's just one of those things, but I'm not displeased at all.

"I wish, for our kids' sake, we could have won because of the effort they gave."

First-year Charleston coach Danny Farmer was just happy to get past the Cardinals. Farmer hinted that overconfidence might have been a factor in the close margin.

"We came out thinking we were going to win this game by the first quarter," said a subdued Farmer after the game. "Woodland thought something else."

Charleston got into foul trouble in the second quarter when the Blue Jays' outstanding backcourt combination of Larico Coleman and Howard Biles had to come out of the game in the second quarter. Coleman left with his third and fourth fouls after a block and technical were whistled against him with 4:13 left in the second quarter.

Woodland led 32-27 after three free throws and then with 2:20 left Biles was whistled for his third foul and came out of the game. The Cardinals led 38-27 at the time, but a late rally by the Blue Jays closed the gap to 39-33 at halftime.

"We are accustomed to playing very aggressive," Farmer said. "But we were not allowed to play that way. We had to change our game plan in order to come out with a victory and we didn't realize that until after halftime."

Both Biles and Coleman didn't start the third quarter, but the Blue Jays started a 7-0 run after falling behind 46-37. Anthony Carlisle, a 6-foot-4 senior, scored seven points in the third quarter to spark the rally. Carlisle's 3-pointer with a minute left in the quarter tied the score 46-46 heading to the fourth quarter.

"He played his best game of the year," said Farmer of Carlisle, who scored 13 points. "We wouldn't have won the game without him."

With the Cardinals leading 48-46, Coleman finally returned to the game with 5:53 left. Just as the Blue Jays began to get their players back from foul trouble, the Cardinals started to face those same problems. Woodland had two players foul out in the fourth quarter, most importantly junior guard David Massa.

The 5-11 Massa led the Cardinals with a game-high 21 points and calmly handled the Blue Jays' pressure for most of the game.

"All our guards did a good job," said Wilkinson. "When you play Charleston, you know it's going to be a physical game and you have to play well or get blown out. I thought we played well."

Massa fouled out seconds after giving the Cardinals their final lead with a 3-pointer to make the score 53-52. Even without its floor leader, Woodland had a chance to win the game in regulation.

After a Charleston miss, Greg Lincoln drove down the court -- and with the clock winding down -- passed to a wide-open C.W. Stacy under the basket. But Stacy couldn't handle the pass and the ball went out of bounds as time expired and the score tied 55-55.

Coleman scored all of Charleston' points in overtime to lead the way. He finished with 18 points and Biles added 14.

Woodland got 13 points from Lincoln.