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Charleston rolls to SIT final
SIKESTON -- The 34th Annual Sikeston Invitational saw its pool play come to a close on a snowy and icy Thursday night at the Sikeston Field House.
In Pool 1, Charleston clinched a championship game appearance with a 77
-54 victory against Osceola (Ark.), and in Pool 2, Blytheville (Ark.) blew open a tie game at halftime with a big second half to defeat New Madrid County Central 55-33.
Charleston and Blytheville, both 5-0 on the season, will play for the championship at 8:30 p.m. Sikeston (2-2) will meet NMCC (1-3) at 7 p.m. for third place while Osceola will meet Lyon Co. (Ky.) in the fifth place game at 5:
30 p.m.
In the first game, Charleston raced out to a 20-5 first quarter lead and was never threatened by Osceola, which was playing without 6-foot-6 standout Lonnie Dabney.
The Bluejays took advantage of his absence and were able to pressure Osceola's guards into turnovers, leading to many easy baskets.
"We just put pressure on them the whole game," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer. "I think it kind of took them out of their gameplan. We tried to limit them to one shot. Getting those transition baskets comes from rotating on defense."
Charleston extended its lead to 41-22 at halftime and continued to pour it on in the third quarter, leading 64-39 heading into the final frame.
The Bluejay cruised to the victory from there with several reserves in the game.
Justin Clark had the biggest night, scoring 23 points with four 3-pointers, three of which came in the third quarter.
Tavis Hamilton scored 16 points, all coming in the first and third quarters. Jamarcus Williams and Shawn Sherrell each had eight points.
Sherrell left the game late in the second quarter with a thigh injury and did not return. He was walking with an ice pack on the injury after the game.
Charleston will need Sherrell to be healthy heading into tonight's big game with Blytheville.
Farmer is viewing it as just another in a long line of difficult opponents for the Bluejays.
"We want to play good teams and this will be just another challenge for us," said Farmer.
In the nightcap, NMCC gave the Chickasaws all they wanted for a half. The Eagles trailed 7-6 after one quarter but managed to take a 15-12 lead late in the second quarter before the Chickasaws were able to tie the score at 15-15 by halftime.
The Eagles, however, had no answer for Blytheville's 6-foot-6 senior bookends, Chris Echols and Chris Brown in the third quarter.
The two combined for 18 points in the third quarter as the Chickasaws went on an 11-0 run to start the period.
Blytheville wouldn't be denied after that as they took a 40-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter and steadily pulled away in the final period until the buzzer.
NMCC coach Lennies McFerren said it was just a matter of time until Blytheville took advantage of its inside game.
"They came out in the second half and decided to do what it took to win the game -- and that's take it inside. We didn't have any answer for that," said McFerren. "We got our butts kicked pretty good, but the things is, we played hard. I don't have any complaints whatsoever. Our kids gave it everything they had and that's all we can expect."
The Eagles simply out-hustled the Chickasaws in the first half, grabbing more loose balls and playing tight defense.
Poor free throw shooting didn't help Blytheville any as they were just 9-of-21 from the charity stripe.
"This was the first time that we got physically whipped in the first half," said Blytheville coach David Hixson. "And that was good for us to see that. We were able to get their attention at halftime and go out and play more physical ourselves. I thought that was the difference. We were able to use our height advantage. It was a good learning experience for us. Lennies' teams always play that way, very hard and very physical.
"We couldn't get to where we wanted to go without some type of contact. That threw our rhythm off. We didn't get off to a great start and it got contagious. We missed some outside shots that we normally make. But I think our kids were smart enough to know that we needed to go inside after that."
Echols and Brown both scored 14 points in the game to lead the way. Sophomore guard Melvin Brooks came off the bench to score nine points.
"They're a very talented team, there's no doubt about it," said McFerren. "We had our Riverbend Classic to open the season and they stack up with the group of teams that we had coming in there. That tells you the caliber of teams Sikeston has got in this tournament."
NMCC was led by Terrard Long's seven points. Antonio McIntosh and Jordan Kimball each scored six points.
Blytheville will have its toughest test yet as they take on Charleston in the championship tonight.
"(This is the game) everybody has probably been looking forward to from what I've heard," said Hixson. "We can't play like we did tonight and expect to have a game with them."
Blytheville has not won the Sikeston Invitational Tournament since 1998. This will be the Chickasaws' last chance as the tournament will be replaced by the newly formed SEMO Conference Tournament.