TIGERS CONTINUE TAILSPIN, FADE LATE AGAINST EAGLES

NEW MADRID -- Cape Girardeau Central High's boys basketball team lost a seven-point fourth quarter lead here Friday night. As a result, the Tigers lost for the fifth time in their last six games.

Red-hot New Madrid County Central rallied to knock off the visiting Tigers 62-57. It was the Eagles' sixth straight victory and evened their record at 6-6, including 2-0 in SEMO Conference play.

Central, which lost for the third straight game, is now 6-7, including 0-2 in the SEMO Conference.

The Tigers were led offensively by Chris Bergerson with 14 points. Aron Meystedt added 12 points (coming on four 3-point shots) and Ross Conner scored 10.

New Madrid got 14 points from both Ed Farr and Ricky Smith while DeMarcus Johnson had 10.

"We played well. I was proud of them," said Central coach Brett Reutzel. "We just didn't execute at the end of the ballgame.

"It was kind of a pressure-packed game for us because it was a big conference game. I think we tightened up at the end some but overall we did a good job."

New Madrid also won the JV game 47-44. John Clark and Chip Elias both scored 10 points.

The Tigers will be right back in action today when they play host to Parkway Central in a 6 p.m. game that marks the fifth and final contest of the third annual Tiger Shootout.

Chaffee 61, Oak Ridge 59

CHAFFEE -- For the first time all season, Chaffee's Red Devils had reason to celebrate.

The Red Devils notched their first victory of the season as they slipped past visiting Oak Ridge Friday night.

"It feels real good," said Chaffee coach Jim Stoverink, whose squad is now 1-11.

Jeremy Vandeven scored 13 points to lead the Red Devils. Josh Hanlon added 12 and Jamey Dumey had 11.

Oak Ridge (2-10) got 16 points from Matt Preusser, 15 from Brent Schreiner and 11 from Nick Friese.

Stoverink, while praising all his players, had particular kudos for Dumey and Dusty Leggett.

Dumey, Chaffee's point guard, played the entire 32 minutes while Leggett -- a 36-percent free-throw shooter on the season -- made two foul shots with seven seconds left to put Chaffee ahead 61-56. Oak Ridge hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"Jamey played a heck of a game, his best of the season," said Stoverink. "And Dusty really stepped up big to knock down those two free throws. If he doesn't, we might still be playing."

Kelly 68, Oran 56

ORAN -- Kelly held off a game Oran squad Friday night, not pulling away from the host Eagles until the final quarter.

The teams played to a 15-15 stalemate in the first quarter before Kelly moved out to a 34-30 lead by halftime. The Hawks took a 48-43 lead into the fourth quarter.

Jim Hulshof scored 20 point to lead Kelly (13-2, 4-0 Scott-Mississippi Conference), which also received 16 points from Denver Stuckey and 13 from Russ Mothershead.

Ricky Eftink netted 20 points for Oran (8-5, 1-3) while Billy Loper added 16.

Delta 86, East Prairie 61

EAST PRAIRIE -- Shawn Kinder scored 20 points and Garrett DeBrock had 19 as Delta cruised on the road Friday night.

The Bobcats (11-4, 2-2 Scott-Mississippi Conference) also got 14 points from Lonnie Cook and 10 from Greg Voelker.

East Prairie (4-9, 1-2) trailed 43-31 at halftime.

Marquand 55, Leopold 40

LEOPOLD -- Marquand improved to 8-6 and kept Leopold winless on the season with a road victory Friday night.

Travis Braswell hit four 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Tigers, now 3-0 in Mississippi Valley Conference play. Dusty Stephens also had 15 points while Brandon Settle scored 11 and Steve Braswell added 10.

Leopold (0-11), which hit eight 3-pointers, got 12 points from Adam Horrell.

De Soto 70, St. Vincent 46

PERRYVILLE -- St. Vincent's struggling Indians fell to 1-14 with a lopsided home-court defeat Friday night.

Kyle Eggers scored 15 points, Chad Winkler had 11 and Dustin Moll 10 as the Indians dipped to 0-3 in Jefferson County Conference play.

De Soto got 20 points from Gary Wood.

"They shot lights out in the first half and it was the same old story for us, inconsistency," said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy.

The Indians trailed 34-15 at halftime.

St. Vincent's JV improved to 11-1 with a 53-33 win.

Lafayette 66, Charleston 53

CHARLESTON -- Lafayette, the state's top-ranked Class 4A team, made the trip from St. Louis and posted another victory Friday night.

The Lancers (14-0) placed all five starters in double figures, led by Terry Laney with 19 points. Scott Brewster had 14 and 6-foot-10 center Robert Archibald added 12.

Charleston (12-3) got 19 points from Howard Biles but nobody else scored more than eight. The Blue Jays played without Biles' running mate at guard, Larico Coleman, who was held out for disciplinary reasons.

Lafayette led 31-25 at halftime and put the game away with a 21-15 third-quarter edge.

Advance 68, Richland 60, OT

ADVANCE -- Advance lost a six-point lead in the fourth quarter, but managed to outscore visiting Richland 12-4 in overtime to claim the victory Friday night.

Gary Ahern and Garrett Broshuis both scored 16 points and Tyler Hitt added 14 for Advance (6-7).

Pete Rutunga scored a game-high 18 points for Richland.

Advance led 17-11 after one quarter and 32-24 at the intermission. Richland cut the lead to 44-38 by the start of the fourth quarter.