Charleston cages Tigers

Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Charleston's Justin Clark flies in for a shot.

CHARLESTON -- Justin Clark single-handedly made quick work of the Caruthersville Tigers.

The hot-shooting Clark knocked down four straight 3-pointers among his 16 first-quarter points to spark the Bluejays to a 74-35 drubbing of the Tigers on Monday at the Charleston Field House.

Clark alone outscored the Tigers 16-15 in the opening quarter which ended with the 'Jays up 25-15.

"He (Clark) was in that zone and lit it up," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer.

Charleston (8-1), outscoring the Tigers 22-5 in the second quarter, extended its lead to 47-20 at the half with Farmer substituting liberally from the second quarter on.

"We were able to get a lot of kids in and get playing time with intensity," Farmer said. "The biggest thing about this game was we tried to keep that intensity up to get used to doing it all the time so that it's automatic--32 minutes of it."

The onslaught continued early in the third quarter as Charleston went on a 6-0 run before the Tigers scored midway of the period.

The 'Jays outscored the Tigers 18-7 to take a commanding 65-27 lead into the fourth quarter with the mercy clock running.

Charleston received scoring from 10 players led by Clark's game-high 25 points. Jerquawn Sherrell added 11, including a 3-pointer.

Jamarcus Williams grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to lead a 38-21 Charleston advantage on the boards.

Caruthersville (1-4) was topped by Krihy Carter's 13 points. Kendrickus Reed added nine.

The Bluejays were still without the services of star point guard Shawn Sherrell. Sherrell was released from the hospital on Monday after a six-day stay to monitor the infection of a cut on his hand.

"They wanted to watch him to make sure the infection wouldn't get into his bloodstream," said Farmer. "They don't want him to touch a ball for two weeks."

Sherrell tentatively may return for the semifinal or final of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament, should the Bluejays survive.

Charleston, No. 1 seed, meets No. 16 Oak Ridge in the opening game of the tournament on Tuesday, Dec. 26, at 9 a.m.

"That's another one of those games that we just want to go out and play hard, get a good workout," Farmer said.

Charleston completed the sweep with a 56-25 win in the junior varsity game.

A host of Bluejays scored led by Brian Caldwell with nine and Terrell Smith, Marquez Ware and Jordan Lawrence with eight apiece.

Chase Cunningham led Caruthersville with nine points.

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