Menu
One step closer
Bluejays breeze past Clearwater; head for Quarterfinals
DEXTER -- All season long the Charleston Bluejays have hung their hat on the ability to put together one of the more feared defenses in southeast Missouri.
Fittingly enough it was the Bluejays relentless pressure that made up for a luke-warm shooting performance Tuesday as the Bluejays outlasted Clearwater 85-63 during the Class 3 sectionals.
"We came out and wore them down of defense like we do every night and it paid of in the second half," Charleston senior Trey Watkins said. "Coach (Danny Farmer) told us they probably wouldn't be used to the press like we play down here so we came out and played our game.
"It's something new for them and we were just able to wear them down."
Watkins was one of the Bluejays' better shooters on the night, finishing with a team-high 22 points while the team shot just 46 percent from the field.
Where Charleston excelled was the turnover battle, which they won handily 24-8 after wearing the the Tigers down with constant pressure through the first two quarters. The fruits of their labor finally started to pay off in the second half when the Bluejays forced six turnovers in the first three minutes of play.
This allowed Charleston to double a respectable eight-point halftime lead with 5:03 still to play in the third quarter.
After the two teams swapped a few baskets to start the half, sophomore Delfincko Bogan got the Bluejays rolling. He stole the ball on three-straight Tiger possessions before going in for easy buckets on a self-made 6-0 run.
Another Clearwater turnover resulted in a put-back for Bogan, giving him eight-straight points and Charleston a 53-37 lead.
"They'll just continue to put that pressure on you," Tigers' head coach Louis Bell said. "I thought we handled it for the most part pretty well, but when we got tired mentally and physically we had stretches were we turned it over three times in a row and then they'd go get six points in a row right there.
"We'd handle it another two or three minutes and then it'd happened again. They'd do that all game."
Charleston went up as as many as 18 points before Clearwater attempted to rally late in the third with a 12-5 run that was fueled by seven points from senior Ethan Roach. The drive closed the Tigers back within 11 points with 1:41 left in the frame only to see the Bluejays back on top 66-50 to start the fourth quarter.
After an open Clearwater basket, Charleston used a pair of turnovers to fuel a 6-0 run that had the Bluejays out on top by a game-high 20 points, 72-52 with 6:16 to play.
The Tigers kept the Bluejays from expanding that lead, but were never able to cut their deficit back down into the single-digits.
"Our two things we had on our list tonight was to handle the basketball and defensive rebounding," Bell said. "Somebody told me they had Charleston down for 29 points on turnovers and 28 points on offensive rebounds. That's 57 of their 85 points so we needed to do a better job of that."
In earning his 22 points on the night, Watkins shot 9 of 16 (56.2 percent) from the floor while contributing five rebounds, three assists and a steal.
"Trey's very aggressive," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "He's been aggressive on offense since (our leading scorer) Mike Hull's injury and we need that from Trey. That's why we're hitting on all cylinders right now."
Delfincko Bogan had 21 points, hitting 8 of 14 shots inside the arc and 9 of 19 overall while grabbing six boards and four steals.
Senior Sumner Foster was the lone Bluejay with a double-double, collecting 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds and five steals. Robert Bogan had 10 points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists.
As a team, Charleston shot 37 of 80 on the night (46.2 percent), but went a much healthier 35 of 67 (52.2 percent) from inside the arc.
In his final game as a Tiger, Roach finished with a game-high 27 points, included four of the team's seven 3-pointers on the night.
Farmer credits the Bluejays second half success, where they outscored Clearwater 44-30, to patience on the defensive end.
"It's a process," Farmer said. "We're not going to beat everybody in the first quarter. Not even in the second or third. But in the end everything that we were doing in the first quarter led up to the end of the game.
"We couldn't get them to turn the ball over in the first half, not enough anyway to separate ourselves, but then they (finally) started turning it over. We're going to stick with it until it takes it toll and that's what it did tonight."
With the win, Charleston is now one step closer to defending their state title. They'll face the top ranked team in Class 3, Madison Prep, Saturday at 1 p.m. at Jefferson College in Hillsboro.
| Clearwater | 19 | 14 | 17 | 13 | -- | 63 |
| Charleston | 16 | 25 | 25 | 19 | -- | 85 |
CLEARWATER (63) -- Dayvon Slack 5, Austin Ayers 10, Ethan Roach 27, Dominick Smith 3, Matthew D'Amico 6, Hayden Clark 12. FG 25, FT 6-13, F 10. (3-pointers: Roach 4, Smith 1, D'Amico 2. Fouled out: none.)
CHARLESTON (85) -- Delfincko Bogan 21, Robert Bogan 10, Ryan Parham 5, Trey Watkins 22, Christian Allen 2, Sumner Foster 17, Shandor Webster 3, Darrion Carter 5. FG 37, FT 9-15, F 15. (3-pointers: Delfincko Bogan 1, Parham 1. Fouled out: none.)