U-HIGH FEATURES THRILLERS; CENTRAL DOWNS JACKSON

The king still rules the University High School Christmas Tournament.

The defending-champion Cape Central Tigers -- seeded a surprisingly low sixth prior to the tourney -- held off a late rally by the No. 3 Jackson Indians to advance to the semifinals with a 51-46 victory Saturday night at the Show Me Center.

The Tigers (5-2) will play No. 2 Kelly at 8:30 p.m. when the tournament resumes Monday. Jackson, which fell to 5-3 and can place no better than fifth, plays No. 7 Notre Dame on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

"Central just did pretty much whatever they wanted to do," said Jackson coach Steve Burk. "They got up and pressured us, took the inside away and were well prepared."

After a 4-0 start by Jackson, Central led the rest of the game. The Tigers opened up leads as big as 17 points in the second half before the Indians put up a final charge late in the fourth quarter.

Jackson's Brandon Blattel made a 3-pointer with a minute left to close the Tigers' lead to 43-42. But the Tigers made 8 of 10 free throws over the final 59 seconds -- 7 of 8 by senior Travis Cox -- to pull away for the win. For the quarter, Central made 10 of 12 free throws. Cox finished with 9 points.

"In the second half, we played a little better and got back in the game," Burk said. "But they made the plays they needed to make to win and deserve to win the ball game."

Aron Meystedt sparked the Tigers' offense early with three 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 16 points and four 3's.

"Aron played a great game as far as getting us started and keeping us in the ball game," said Central coach Brett Reutzel. "He's played like that most of the year."

Central drained four 3-pointers in the opening quarter to jump to a 16-6 lead. At halftime the Tigers pushed that advantage to 31-15. The Tigers' intensity level appeared to be a lot higher than it was against Bell City the previous night.

"Jackson is a big rival," Reutzel said. "Obviously we were much more pumped for tonight's game against Jackson."

But the Indians picked up their intensity in the second half to make things close. Doug Cary led Jackson with 12 points, including three 3-pointers, and Jeff Walter scored 10.

"I'm trying to protect the lead instead of letting them play," Reutzel said of the Tigers' cautious approach in the second half. "We were up 16 and probably could have taken more chances."