CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. - The Caruthersville Tigers varsity boys basketball team moved back above the .500 mark Tuesday night with a convincing 76-54 home win against the state-ranked Bernie Mules.
The Tigers outscored the Mules by single digits in every quarter.
"We had a real disappointing effort tonight," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said in a press release. "I thought we came in with a good game plan and a good idea on how to beat them, but we simply didn't execute and thus got our tails whipped. We were noncompetitive much of the night, and we have zero chance to beat a good team when we don't compete as hard as we can at all times."
Five players calculated double-digit scoring totals for Caruthersville. Jamal Johnson led the Tigers with 20 points and recorded four of his team's five treys. Steve Rodgers added 17 points, Coleman Tramble tallied 13 points and Cortez Gooden scored 10 points for Caruthersville.
Forward Joey Walker calculated a team-high 18 points for the Mules. David Baker finished second in scoring for Bernie with 14 points.
Caruthersville's record improves to 7-6 with the victory. Bernie's record currently stands at 12-2.
Caruthersville beat Bernie 49-46 in the junior varsity game. It was the Bernie junior varsity's first loss.
Caruthersville will travel to defending Bootheel Conference Tournament champion Hayti Friday night. Bernie will host two-time defending SCAA Tournament champion Dexter Friday.
Ethan Barr nailed 23 points to lead the Hornets in the road win.
Lane Below added 18 points for Advance (9-4). Austin Miller and Curtis Gilliland scored 10 points apiece for the Hornets.
Peyton Montgomery paced the Red Devils (8-6) with 23 points. Jared Walker contributed 12 points, and Charlie Montgomery bucketed 11 points for Chaffee.
JV -- Advance won 49-36.
McKenzie Vires scored 19 points to lead the Cubs in the home loss.
Jerad Yates contributed 13 points and Aaron Smith added 12 points for Bell City (0-12).
Jacob Plunket scored a game-high 35 points for the Indians.
JV -- Puxico won 45-24.
Braden Wendel scored 11 points to lead 11 Indians that found the scoring column in their road victory.
Luke Stevens added 10 points for the Indians (9-5).
JV -- Jackson won 37-32.
HAYTI, Mo. - The Kennett Indians varsity boys basketball team moved one step closer to securing the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Bootheel Conference Tournament Tuesday night when it beat Hayti 76-67.
Kennett and Hayti entered the regular-season conference game tied for outright first place in the conference with matching 3-0 regular-season conference records.
"The very last thing we said coming out of the locker room was 'they play well here,'" Kennett coach Jim Vaughan said of the road win. "Hayti plays with energy at home and they turn up intensity and make the game chaotic. They are comfortable in this gym and amongst their fans. They played well and went on an 18-0 run at one stretch in the second half. They are a real capable bunch so to me this is a very solid road win."
Both teams led by at least nine points in the second half.
Kennett tallied the first nine points of the second half to take a 43-33 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter.
Hayti called a timeout after falling behind by double-digits. Following the timeout Hayti went on an 18-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 51-43 lead with more than 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
"Part of the thing about taking that timeout was to get my guys to understand they have to compete and play without backing down," Hayti coach Philip Taylor said. "That's what they did. We got some turnovers on our press after the timeout and hit some shots. We got hot and got on a role. That's how we play. We are kind of streaky from time to time."
Hayti increased its lead to 53-44 before Kennett scored the final five points of the third period to cut the deficit to 53-49.
CHARLESTON -- After taking over a week-long break since defending their seMissourian Christmas Tournament championship, Charleston was back on the hardwood Tuesday night against visiting New Madrid County Central.
The Eagles hung tough despite several Bluejay runs midway through the game, but ultimately, it was Charleston that notched their 12th win of the season, 72-57.
"They gave us one of those games that we need," Bluejays head coach Danny Farmer said. "We get in situation where we need a free throw and we need to see if we can make a free throw at a clutch time.
"I thought it gave us a different look. It was a lot closer game than the score indicated."
Jamal Cox nailed 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Central Tigers to a 48-39 victory Tuesday night at Pacific.
Garan Evans chipped in 19 points for Central (8-4).
Cullen Vanleer led the Indians (11-5) with 18 points.
SIKESTON -- They'd like to forget about what happened in 2012.
The good things, like winning the Oran Invitational Tournament for the fifth straight time, didn't outweigh the bad.
The Scott County Central Braves lost 59-49 to Oak Ridge giving them their first loss to a Class 1 school since 2008. They were also blown out by Oran 77-47 during the seMissourian Christmas Tournament that sent the Braves home packing without playing on the final day. Oran's win also snapped a 24-game winning streak against the Eagles dating back to 2003.
Needless to say, Scott Central is looking forward to 2013 and they managed to start it off the right way.
The Braves knocked off the visiting East Prairie Eagles 98-61 at Scott Central High School Tuesday during their first game of the new year.
The Braves had five players in double figures. Jaylen Porter led the Braves with 31 points. Tyler Masters added 20 while Kendall Blissett and Cameron Blissett chipped in with 14 and 11 respectively. Jeffery Porter scored 10.
Ryan Brock had a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds in the Rams' road win.
Eric Urhahn netted 10 points, while Jordan McFall grabbed seven rebounds for Scott City (9-7).
Dillon Lincoln led Delta with 26 points, including four three-pointers, and Alex Lashley scored 12 points for the Bobcats (1-11).
CARDWELL, Mo. - The Holcomb Hornets varsity boys basketball team won its eighth straight game Tuesday night when it beat Southland 85-20.
Holcomb (12-3) outscored Southland 49-6 in the first half. Jamie Massey paced the Hornets with 23 points. Cameron Clark added 19 more for the Hornets.
Tyler Lewis hit three of Holcomb's seven 3-pointers. He finished with 11 points.
Southland was led in scoring by Austin Vaughn who recorded 10 points.
Holcomb improves to 5-0 in Tri-County Conference regular-season play with the conference win. Holcomb is back in action Friday when it travels to Neelyville, which won the Senath-Hornersville Christmas Tournament earlier this season.
Southland returns to action Thursday when it hosts Black Rock. Southland's regular-season or conference record was not available at press deadline.