TIGERS PAINT 'W': CENTRAL NIPS JACKSON 67-66

JACKSON -- Maybe it was the body paint.

Whatever it was, Cape Central had just enough of it to hold off Highway-61 rival Jackson 67-66 in front of a flammable crowd Tuesday night.

A pair of Central juniors -- center Ross Conner and guard Donnie McClinton -- hit all six of their free throws in the final 35 seconds of the game.

McClinton's last free throw with :06 on the clock put the Tigers ahead 67-63 and prevented overtime because Jackson guard Justin Suedmeyer, who scored nine of his 15 points in the final :39, banked in a 3-pointer from 10 feet behind the arc with two seconds left to account for the final margin.

When the buzzer sounded, a large group of Central fans -- many of which were painted in orange, black and white stripes from the waist up -- flooded the court in celebration.

"I just had to clear my mind and knock them down," said Conner, who before two of his free throws had to collect himself and begin his routine again.

"We made just enough (free throws) to win," Central coach Brett Reutzel said.

Central improved to 10-11 overall and 3-1 in SEMO Conference play while Jackson fell to 14-7 and 3-2.

Central, which led by 12 points at halftime, and 52-47 entering the fourth quarter saw the Indians make a late move.

Jackson's 6-foot-4 junior forward John Oehl, who led the Indians with 20 points, cut Central's lead to 56-53 when he dropped in two free throws with 2:46 left.

In Central's next possession, Conner swung the momentum pendulum in the Tigers' favor when he flushed down a two-handed dunk to give Central a 58-53 lead with 2:24 remaining.

"It was incredible, man," Conner said of the emotional high following his dunk. "The crowd was cheering. It gets the whole team hyped up after you do something like that. The crowd was really into it."

Undaunted, Jackson's Doug Cary, who recently broke the school record for most threes in a season, drained a 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:11 left to narrow the gap to 58-56. Cary finished with 13 points and four 3-pointers.

With one minute remaining, senior forward Kelly Illers scored to put the Tigers ahead 61-57.

Suedmeyer then drained a three with :39 left to cut Central's lead to 61-60.

On Central's next possession, Conner hit two free throws to put the Tigers ahead 63-60.

Suedmeyer missed wide left on a layup attempt with :23 left and Oehl was called for over-the-back which sent Illers to the foul line with :23 to go.

Illers missed both free throws, but Conner grabbed the lose rebound and, after sinking two more free throws, put Central ahead 65-60.

Suedmeyer responded with another 3-pointer to slice the cushion to two points again with :10 remaining, but Jackson couldn't catch up after McClinton iced the game.

After falling behind 38-26 at halftime (the biggest lead by either team), the Indians finally scrapped their way back and tied the game three times in the third quarter, but never led in the second half.

"They were just better than us in the first half," said Jackson coach Steve Burk. "We made it a good ballgame in the second half. You have to give the kids credit for battling. You just can't spot somebody a 12-point lead like that and expect to win."

Central built up its 12-point advantage thanks in large part to Conner's dominance in the second quarter.

Conner used a variety of post and open-court moves to score 11 points in a span of less than four minutes.

"My teammates just started getting me the ball," Conner said. "Then after that I could just turn around and shoot over the top of their players."

"He's played like that in spurts this year," Reutzel said. "We want to get him the ball inside. That's got to be our first option and I thought he paid off tonight."

Conner meshed nicely with Illers (15 points) throughout the game with Illers often penetrating and dropping the ball off for his front-court comrade.

"Coach is always telling us that if both of us play a good game together, that there's not much chance that a team's going to beat us," Illers said. "Tonight it turned out that we won by one."

In the opening minutes of the second half, Jackson surprised Central with a full-court trap and forced four turnovers in the early going. Central committed just seven turnovers overall and six of them came in the third quarter.