Tigers make Pirates walk plank 62-39

With three games in five days, including back-to-back nights, Central's boys basketball team cleared the bench and finished with 12 players in the scoring column Tuesday night in a 62-39 win over Perryville at home.

Playing in his third game of the season, Mitch Craft came out and scored Central's first five points. In all, the Tigers had seven different scorers in the first quarter and grabbed a 17-10 lead.

"We had a lot of guys scoring some points," Craft said. "It's a long week for us, and it's good to get those guys minutes."

While the Tigers' lead was not challenged during a slow-paced first quarter, Central finally started to get its offense in motion in the second. Central (10-3) went on a 10-0 run to start the quarter and outscored the Pirates 17-5 in the period.

"We got on top and we just established the win," Craft said. "We got on top and just made sure they couldn't catch up with us."

Todd Obergoenner scored five straight points for the Tigers in the second quarter, and Alex Espinoza added a pair to put eight Tigers in the scoring column by halftime.

"That's what was good about this game tonight," Central starter Ryan Delph said. "Everyone got to show what they can do."

Out of halftime Central scored the first three baskets and pushed the lead to 40-15. Delph got the crowd on its feet with a big dunk during Central's quick 6-0 run.

Perryville (2-8) continued to fight out of halftime and hung with the Tigers. The Pirates were only outscored 14-11 in the third quarter. However, the lead would remain above 20 for most of the second half.

"I'm proud of my kids," Perryville coach Joel Roth said. "They hustle all the time, and as long as they keep playing hard they're going to get better."

In the fourth quarter the Pirates made a run of their own, using an 8-0 spurt to cut the score to 55-34. Kyle Dobbelare led the charge with six points, using his 6-foot-3 frame to outmuscle a smaller Tigers down low.

"Cape's a heck of a team," Roth said. "We knew coming in we didn't have good matchups anywhere on the floor."

Central outscored the Pirates only 14-13 in the fourth quarter. The Tigers had some problems with turnovers in the second half with players getting a little fancy with the ball.

"We've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball," Central coach Derek McCord said. "A few times out there we tried to do too much."

Dobbelare led all scorers with 10 points for Perryville. Craft and Scott Chestnutt led Central with nine points apiece.

Central will have no time to celebrate with a home game tonight against Caruthersville, which lost to Charleston by a point earlier this season.