Second half flurry propels Cape Central by Farmington

The long awaited home opener for the Cape Central Tigers was a joyous one thanks to a 14-0 run that sent the Tigers to a 64-45 win over the Farmington Knights on Friday.

Both clubs began the contest in a scoring drought as it was just 5-5 over halfway through the first quarter.

“Farmington is really good,” Tigers coach Drew Church said. “They have five guys that can play. They’re physical, they run great sets and they shoot the ball extremely well. We came out in a zone because we aren’t super deep right now and then it took them a little bit to figure out what we were in. When we started rebounding and pushing the ball and sharing it I thought we did some good things.”

Tigers senior and SEMO commit Jaydon Reynolds got the offense back on track as he drilled back-to-back threes to keep his team level with Farmington.

“When Jay hits shots it makes everybody better,” Church said.

Farmington answered with a two-point basket late in the first to make it 11-11 after the first quarter of action.

Opening the second quarter it was the Tyseandre’ Edwards show as he began the frame with a layup, a made free throw and a made three for a personal 6-0 run to stretch the Tigers lead to 17-11.

“He’s maturing and he’s getting stronger,” Church said. “You’re going to continue to see improvement as he just learns the game. When he has a motor on the boards it’s huge for us.”

As Edwards came alive on the offensive end, so did the Tigers defense.

“I thought for the most part we contested the three pretty well in the first half,” Church said. “When we went to a man I felt like we had a little more energy.”

After Reynolds picked the offense up in the first and Edwards kept it going early in the second quarter, it was Tyson Williams also doing his fair share as he continued getting to the rim with ease to help send the Tigers into halftime with a 25-17 lead.

“Tyson has paid his dues, he really has,” Church said. “He’s worked hard, he’s never complained and this is his senior year and he deserves this. He’s only going to get better because up until this year he didn’t have a ton of experience, but now every game you can see him getting better.”

While much of the first-half belonged to the Tigers, Farmington came out in the second-half determined to flip the script.

The Knights opened the third-quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the Tigers lead to 25-24.

“In our zone we just lost track of people,” Church said. “They were doing some things like overloading and got some good shots. We had trouble making a decision there so we called timeout and they wanted to go man so we went man and tried to be a little physical.”

The run was ended courtesy of Williams’ ability to get to the rim and score and it allowed the Tigers to settle down offensively.

As the Tigers were clinging to a two-point lead in the dwindling seconds of the third quarter, Max Vogel drilled a three and then got a steal and a layup for a 5-0 burst to give Cape Central a 42-35 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Max works so hard,” Church said. “He tore his meniscus last year and missed the entire season and then eight weeks ago in workouts he broke his ankle. He’s got screws in there and he’s just worked so hard and I’m so proud of him. The best thing is he realized he’s healthy and he’s comfortable. I’m really excited for Max and he’s only going to get better.”

It was evident how important the momentum Vogel generated was as he opened the fourth quarter with a layup that was followed up by a three from Reynolds to stretch the lead to 12 and force a Farmington timeout.

The run would end at 14-0 but it gave the Tigers all the momentum they needed as they cruised down the stretch to the win.

Leading the Tigers offensive charge was Williams who tallied a game-high 21 points. Following that up was Edwards who had 16 points, with 10 of those coming in the second quarter.

Cape Central (4-3) will have ten days off before opening play in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

The Tigers enter the tournament as the reigning champs and the top seed and they will battle the No. 16 seed Delta Bobcats at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 26, at the Show Me Center.