TIGERS SLAY KNIGHTS; CAPE CENTRAL HOLDS ON FOR 53-47 VICTORY

For the first 33 minutes of Wednesday night's basketball game at Cape Central, Tiger senior Chris Bergerson wasn't having one of his better games.

But in the final minute of the Tigers' 53-47 victory over Farmington, the 6-foot-5 forward was dominating.

Bergerson didn't score a point in the final minute, but grabbed two crucial rebounds and blocked an attempted 3-pointer by the Knights in the final seconds to secure the victory.

Central improved to 3-2 with the non-conference win. Farmington, coming off a 102-59 Tuesday night win against Ste. Genevieve, fell to 5-2.

"Last night we played perfect; everything clicked," said Farmington coach Justin Callahan, who's team led the Dragons 36-2 after one quarter. "Tonight, sometimes we did some good things, but for the most part we didn't."

The same could be said for the Tigers, but 17 rebounds from Gabe Wunderlich and solid play by Bergerson down the stretch helped pull out the victory for Central.

"We missed a few shots early and everybody got a little tight," said Central coach Brett Reutzel, who's team shot just 10 of 26 from the free-throw line. "I got tight, the team got tight but we just kind of choked it out."

The Tigers led for nearly the entire game and held a 50-47 advantage going into the final minute of play. With 58-second left, Central's Kelly Illers went to the free-throw line for a bonus situation.

Illers, who played outstanding in the second half with six points off the bench, missed his first free throw but Bergerson grabbed the rebound to keep the Tigers in possession.

Central's Travis Cox was fouled 16 seconds later and when he missed his first free throw, Bergerson was there again to knock the rebound off a Farmington player and keep the Tigers in possession.

"Cape was just a little bit bigger and stronger than us and we didn't to a good job of blocking them out," said Callahan. "The new rebounding rule makes it the quickest guy to the ball and (Central) had some big kids up there."

With 32 seconds left, Aron Meystedt was fouled and the Tigers had one more chance to seal the game. Meystedt made his first free throw to make the score 51-47, but when he missed the second shot Bergerson grabbed the rebound again.

"Chris didn't score like he has the last two games and he was struggling," said Reutzel of Bergerson, who had just seven points. "But at the end ... my goodness."

Central turned the ball back to Farmington, but Bergerson saved his best play for last. With the Knights setting up a 3-point shot, Bergerson fought through several screens to block the attempted three and then grabbed the loose ball and threw a perfect outlet pass to Gave Wunderlich down court.

Wunderlich, who led the Tigers with 12 points, missed the layup, but Illers was there for the rebound and putback to ice the game with less than 10-seconds left.

"Chris made a great defensive play at the end," said Reutzel. "He ran from one side of the floor to the other avoiding screens and then made the block. It was wonderful."

Junior point guard Travis Williamson, getting his first start of the season, led the Tigers in the first half with eight points as Central held a 30-28 lead at halftime. Williamson finished with 10 points.

Ten different players scored for the Tigers. Farmington got a game-high 14 points from Josh Griffin.

In the junior varsity game, Donnie McClinton scored 14 points and John Clark 12 in the Tigers 51-37 victory.