No. 1 Charleston will face No. 2 NMCC for title

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
New Madrid County Central senior Delontre Haney (22) gets a shot past Doniphan's Stephen Murray Tuesday during the Class 3, District 1 Tournament semifinals at Malden High School. Brent Shipman, Staff

MALDEN -- For the first time since 2009 the New Madrid County Central Eagles find themselves back in the Class 3, District 1 title game with a chance to take down the defending champion Charleston Bluejays.

Playing Doniphan in the tournament semifinals Tuesday, the Eagles received 19 points from sophomore Willie Jimerson and another 16 points from Delontre Haney as they cruised to a 66-30 final.

"We know everybody is going to focus on Willie," NMCC head coach Travis Day said. "Then our other guys have to step up and finish and I think we did that. Delontre played well inside and that was good for us. That's what we have to have."

NMCC held the Dons without a basket the first six minutes of the contest while seizing a 14-2 lead that caused Doniphan to burn its first timeout.

With their season on the line, the Dons answered with seven straight points to close their deficit to five, but it wasn't long before their turnovers started leading to easy NMCC points.

Doniphan turnovers on two straight possessions allowed the Eagles close out the first quarter with seven points in the final 26 seconds. NMCC continued to build from there, opening the second quarter on a 11-5 drive.

After trailing by as many as 19 points late in the half, the Dons rallied back within 12 as the final minute wound down.

Back-to-back buckets by NMCC to end the quarter, however, extended their lead back to 16 points, 38-22, entering the break.

"Our pressure hurt them and put them in predicaments they didn't want to be in," Day said of Doniphan. "That's what we wanted to do, we didn't want their guys to handle the ball that are normally their ball handlers. When we put up our pressure we did that."

Early in the third quarter the Eagles started to pull away once again. With 3:10 left in the frame, NMCC built a then-high 26-point advantage.

It was another strong finish in the last minutes of the quarter that ensured a turbo-clocked fourth.

After a pair of free throws finished off Doniphan's scoring in the quarter at the two-minute mark, the Eagles proceeded to close out the quarter on a 8-0 run.

It was a bucket from Mikeal Walker that pushed NMCC's lead over the 30-point mark and one final basket from Haney that gave them a 59-27 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

The Eagles outscored the Dons 7-3 in the final frame to wrap up the win.

A huge help to their cause was the Eagles' ability to contain Doniphan's leading scorer Brian Patterson. The 6-7 senior still had 15 points on the night, but was limited to only one basket in the second half.

Patterson was the only Don to score more than four points in the contest.

"We knew he was their go-to guy," Day said of Patterson. "You can't stop a good kid like that so our thing was to limit his touches. Make him earn everything he is going to get. I think we did that tonight."

With the win, NMCC advances to play the Charleston Bluejays for the district title Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Malden High School.

Fittingly, the Bluejays were the last team the Eagles faced in a title game with Charleston winning 59-57 in 2009. Charleston won the team's only meeting this season, 72-57.

"They're a great team and all I'm going to ask of my guys is to compete," Day said. "We'll see what happens from there."

NMCC2117217-66
Doniphan91353-30

NMCC (66) -- Willie Jimerson 19, Armondo Thatch 9, Mikeal Walker 7, JaShawn McDaniel 5, Delontre Haney 16, Shunta Clark Jr. 5, Aster Newsom-Gill 2, Corey Guest 2, Darrin McGloson 1. FG 28, FT 3-5, F 13. (3-pointers: Jimerson 3, Thatch 1, Walker 1, Clark Jr. 1, McDaniel 1. Fouled out: none.)

DONIPHAN (30) -- Dakota Mooney 4, Brian Patterson 15, Ryan Daniels 3, Wyatt Eaton 4, Stephen Murphy 4. FG 10, FT 9-11, F 5. (3-pointers: Eaton 1. Fouled out: none.)

Charleston 104, Caruthersville 60

The Charleston Bluejays took another big step to defending their Class 3, District 1 title Tuesday with a 104-60 win over Caruthersville in the tournament semifinals.

"The effort was there," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "We played hard, took care of business and now we're moving on to the championship game."

Charleston wasted little time in separating themselves from the Tigers, taking a 26-12 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Bluejays quickly expanded on that in the second frame as they held Caruthersville to only a field goal through the first three-and-a-half minutes of the quarter.

After exchanging initial baskets to start the frame, the Bluejays opened a three minute, 13-2 run that put them ahead 42-16 with 3:48 remaining before the break.

Darrion Carter paced Charleston in the frame with 11 points as they outscored the Tigers 35-14.

By halftime, they Bluejays took a 35-point lead, 61-26.

"We want to get that lead (early)," Farmer said. "We don't want it to be close."

Back out to start the second half, the Bluejays manufactured their second straight 30-plus point frame to ensure a turbo-clocked fourth.

Trey Watkins had eight points in the quarter while Darrion Henderson contributed three baskets, guiding Charleston to a 92-45 lead entering the final frame.

Leading Charleston on the night was Carter and Sumner Foster as each posted a team-high 21 points. Carter earned his while shooting 6 of 9 from the floor, grabbing a game-high seven rebounds and blocking a couple shots in the process. Foster was 9 of 12 shooting and grabbed five boards.

Watkins and Delfincko Bogan had 12 and 14 points respectively with Watkins also collecting five assists and a game-high seven steals. Robert Bogan was the fifth Bluejay to hit double-digits with 11 points and six rebounds.

As a team, Charleston shot 42 of 78 (53.8 percent) from the floor.

With his team grabbing a lead early, Farmer was pleased to see the same intensity in his boys during the second half that led to such a strong start.

"That's the most important thing is not losing the intensity and moving to the championship game," Farmer said. "It's easy to lose it when you get a big lead. I try to coach throughout the game so we won't get relaxed and let up because we won't be able to let up this next game."

For Caruthersville, Steven Rodgers had a game-high 23 points, including three of team's six 3-pointers on the night. Jamal Johnson scored 11 points, hitting a 3-pointer in each of the final three frames.

"We battled and fought hard," Tigers' head coach Tim Smith said. "They're just a lot better team than we are."

Charleston moves on to play New Madrid County Central for the title Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Malden High School.

Charleston26353112-104
Caruthersville12141915-60

CHARLESTON (104) -- Delfincko Bogan 14, Robert Bogan 11, Ryan Parham 7, Trey Watkins 12, Darrion Henderson 6, Sumner Foster 21, Shandor Webster 8, Darrion Carter 21, Christian Allen 2, Michael Coleman 2. FG 42, FT 14-22, F 10. (3-pointers: Delfincko Bogan 2, Robert Bogan 1, Parham 1, Webster 2. Fouled out: none.)

CARUTHERSVILLE (60) -- Jamal Johnson 11, Steven Rodgers 23, Coleman Tramble 7, Myron Woods 4, Jeremy Grant 8, Antonio Mackins 6, Malik Monroe 4. FG 24, FT 6-12, F 14. (3-pointers: Johnson 3, Rodgers 3. Fouled out: none.)

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