STARLESS CBC SNEAKS PAST CAPE CENTRAL

Life without graduated star Larry Hughes, now playing for St. Louis University, hasn't always been easy for defending Class 4A champion CBC.

Saturday at Cape Central's Tiger Fieldhouse, the Cadets squeaked past Central 60-56 without their star of the past (Hughes) or this season's leading scorer Marc Stricker.

With the game tied 56-56 and Stricker already fouled out of the game with 18 points, CBC got a driving 10-foot jumper with 5-seconds left from junior guard Ryan Johnson to win the game.

Central immediately inbounded the ball under its basket where it was stolen by CBC's Mike Van Hee for two more points at the buzzer.

The win improved CBC to 7-9. Central, which led nearly the entire game until a fourth-quarter rally by the Cadets, fell to 7-9.

Previous to Johnson's winning shot, the Tigers' Ross Conner tied the game 56-56 with two pressure-packed free throws with 38-seconds left. CBC brought the ball upcourt, killed some time and then called a timeout to set up a final shot.

"We diagramed a play and if there was an overplay on it, we were going to let Ryan do his own thing," said CBC coach Bob McCormack. "It just so happened he got inside about 10-feet away and put up a perfect jump shot.

"Then they inbounded short and we ended up getting a steal and two more points."

"I thought we took away all their first options," said Central coach Brett Ruetzel. "Johnson just broke down (the defense) and nailed the winning basket."

The victory capped a comeback by the Cadets that saw them take their first lead of the game at 53-52 on a 3-pointer by Johnson with 2:06 left. Central led from the start, holding double-digit leads in each of the first three quarters.

"I'm proud of my kids because they came back about three different times from 10 or 12 point deficits," said McCormack. "That's hard to do, especially on the road."

Central led 38-27 at halftime and a 3-pointer by Travis Williamson to start the third quarter gave the Tigers their biggest lead at 41-27. But CBC caused five Tiger turnovers in the opening three minutes of the quarter close the score to 41-36.

"I thought we stepped up our man-to-man defense in the first three minutes of the second half and got some turnovers," said McCormack, who's team caused 10 turnovers in the quarter.

The Tigers responded with a 7-0 scoring run to go ahead 48-36, but the Cadets closed the quarter with an 8-0 run of their own that put them behind only 48-43 entering the final quarter.

"We just didn't finish like we needed to," Reutzel said. "They turned the pressure up a great deal and we didn't take care of the ball."

Four more turnovers in the final quarter and 2 of 8 shooting by the Tigers allowed CBC to finally take the lead. The Cadets made 50 percent of their shots (7 of 14) in the final quarter, including three 3-pointers.

Central shot 45 percent from the floor (20 of 44) and got a team-high 13 points from Chris Bergerson.