Bluejays hold off SCC to end seMissourian Christmas Tournament with third

Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Charleston's Delfincko Bogan dribbles toward the basket Monday during the third place game of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. (Chris Pobst photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- With no hopes of winning the tournament this year, No. 2 Charleston and No. 5 Scott County Central both wanted to finish the seMissourian Christmas Tournament with the best record possible.

The Bluejays succeeded while the Braves may have taken a step in the wrong direction according to head coach Frank Staple during Charleston's 81-74 third-place victory at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

"I'm upset," Staple said. "All credit to Charleston because they're an outstanding team, but I thought our effort tonight was horrible. I don't think we played as a team. I thought we were a bunch of individuals out there. I thought we got flat-out, out-manned. I'm thoroughly disappointed in the way we played tonight. I'm ashamed of that product that I just saw on the court out there."

Charleston junior Delfincko Bogan led the Bluejays, who won the tournament a season ago, with 27 points on 11 of 22 shooting from the floor with also five rebounds and four assists. After four games, Bogan finished with 94 points total -- second only to Advance senior Lane Below for the tournament lead.

Scott County Central's Matthew Blissett dribbles around Charleston's Michael Kellum (32) Monday during the third place game of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. (Chris Pobst photo)

Shandor Webster added 10 points and 12 rebounds while Robert Bogan added 14 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

"We always say after we lose that game and can't win the championship game, we say we want to have the best record," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "So we came out 3-1 and that's what we were concerned about."

Scott Central senior LaRandis Banks paced the Braves, who started out with a lead, with 25 points on 12 of 19 shooting. Scott Central got up by as many as nine points in the first quarter, but Charleston rallied to close the gap to a 19-15 SCC advantage at the end of the first quarter.

A 3-pointer by Demontrail Clark, which ended up being his only points scored, gave Charleston their first lead of the game, 28-27, with 4:04 left in the second quarter. From there, the Bluejays never trailed again leading 38-31 at halftime.

"We came out ready and for some reason the lights just went off," said Staple. "We just kind of never recovered. That was embarrassing. We have to improve on that. That was one of the worst efforts I've ever seen.

Charleston's Shandor Webster attempts a layup Monday during the third place game of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. (Chris Pobst photo)

"It's five as one. We've got to get to that one heartbeat and we weren't there tonight. We got exposed and it's just a shame how we played."

Staple's main concerns about his team was simply their effort. He mentioned 50-50 balls that went Charleston's way, rebounding, errant passes that were picked off and defending -- something they've tried to emphasis more this season.

As a team Charleston had 12 steals. SCC turned the ball over 10 times. The Bluejays out-rebound SCC 35-24.

"A lot of it is just playing as a team," Staple said. "Delfincko (Bogan) is a good player, he can shoot, he can drive, but there's so many times where he drove to the hole and there was nobody there to help. That's what we've been working on.

"You just can't do that against good teams," Staple added. "Our guys have to understand that and we're just not at that point yet. I believe we'll get there and I'm a little disappointed, but we'll bounce back. Hopefully we can regroup and give a better effort the rest of the season."

Charleston (7-4) outscored the Braves 48-30 throughout the second and third quarters to take a 63-49 advantage into the final eight minutes. The Braves could not break through Charleston's 10-point lead they sustained throughout most of the second half.

Scott County Central's LaRandis Banks attempts a shot Monday during the third place game of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. (Chris Pobst photo)

"We made Scott Central start making some decisions," Farmer said. "I know they wanted us to came at Porter so he could dump it inside. We wanted to take away the easy buckets and once they get tired let them shoot a three. They want a layup so we had to take that away."

Though Delfincko Bogan is Charleston's main scoring threat, Farmer mentioned the play of others around him such as Robert Bogan's 14 points as well as Mike Kellum and Timontrail Horton. Both Kellum and Horton finished with 10 points to give the Bluejays five players in double figures.

"If we hadn't have had that, we wouldn't have beat them," said Farmer. "We have to have everybody stepping up and playing. That's hard to get through to them but that's what we've got to have. My guys have to understand that every night we have to go out and play hard. In order to beat anybody, we have to play hard."

Javonta Daniel scored 18 points for the Braves while Jeffery Porter added 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Fourth place ties Scott Central's best finish since 2011. They won the tournament in 2010 by defeating Jackson in the finals.

"Our goal was to play four days and we did that," Staple said. "We got to play against a lot of good teams and that's going to prepare us for March. We wanted to compete. I don't have a problem with us losing, I just want to make sure we compete every game and I don't think we competed to the best of our abilities."

SCC19121825--74
Charleston15232518--81

CHARLESTON (81) -- Kelvondre Moore 7, Robert Bogan 14, Delfincko Bogan 27, Demontrail Clark 3, Shandor Webster 10, Mike Kellum 10, Timontrell Horton 10. FG 30, FT 11-17, F 21. (3-pointers: Moore 1, Clark 1, Kellum 2. Fouled out: Horton)

SCC (74) -- Juwan Owens 8, Larandis Banks 27, Jeffery Porter 11, Kendall Blissett 2, Javonta Daniel 18, Matthew Blissett 8FG 27, FT 15-29, F 16. (3-pointers: Banks 1. Fouled out: Owens)

Fifth-place

Notre Dame 71, Oran 68

The Oran Eagles narrowly escaped with fifth place Monday but fell to fourth-seeded Notre Dame 71-68.

Oran, the tournament's sixth seed, held a slim 35-34 lead at the half. But Notre Dame outscored the Eagles 22-17 in the third to take control 56-52 going into the fourth quarter.

Hunter Schlosser led the Eagles with 25 points. Seth Ressel added 24 while Chance Tenkhoff chipped in 14.

Notre Dame was paced by Jordan Barber who scored 18. Quinn Poythress added 15.

Oran16191716--68
Notre Dame21132215--71

ORAN (68) -- Thomas Trankler 2, Jacob Priggel 3, Chance Tenkhoff 14, Seth Ressel 24, Hunter Schlosser 25. FG 24, FT 18-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Priggel 1, Tenkhoff 3, Ressel 1, Schlosser 3. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (71) -- Chase Urhahn 5, Hunter Eftink 4, Jordan Williamson 3, Quinn Poythress 15, Trenton Schumer 2, Grant Ressel 9, Jordan Barber 18, Derek Hulshof 6, Dean Crippen 9. FG 28, FT 10-20, F 18. (3-pointers: Urhahn 1, Poythress 2, Ressel 1. Fouled out: Poythress)

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