KENNETT -- Cape Girardeau Central's boys basketball team used a pair of late 3-pointers to dramatically force overtime here Friday night.
But the Tigers could not pull out a victory as Kennett outscored Central 13-6 in the extra period to prevail 48-41. Central fell to 3-9 while Kennett improved to 11-2.
"Kennett is a really good team," said Central coach Derek McCord. "I thought we had a good game plan and defended well and rebounded well, but we continue to struggle with our shooting. We shot 34 percent and it's tough to win that way."
Matt Cardin hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to pull the Tigers to within 33-32. After two Kennett free throws, Jay Ruark buried a tough 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime at 35-all.
Mitch Craft was the Tigers' lone double-figure scorer as he had 12 points to go with eight rebounds.
Kennett had four players score in double figures, led by Dustin Pritchett and Tyree Goolsby with 11 points each.
POPLAR BLUFF -- A Jackson comeback fell short as the Indians (6-6) gamely battled Poplar Bluff (12-2) for three quarters before faltering down the stretch. After falling behind by nine points in the first quarter, Jackson rallied to close the gap to 27-26 by halftime.
The Indians were down 45-43 going into the final quarter, but were outscored 16-11 in the final eight minutes.
Lance Bollinger and Tyler McNeely topped the Indian scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Seth McDowell added 11.
Poplar Bluff's Tony Webb led all scorers with 26 points and Tyler Hansbrough chipped in with 16.
CHAFFEE -- Scott City, trailing by a point at halftime, used a big third quarter to knock off Chaffee and inch closer to the .500 mark.
The Rams (5-6) were down 18-17 at halftime but outscored the Red Devils 19-9 in the third period. D.J. Walton was Scott City's only double-figure scorer with 25 points. The Red Devils (2-7) got 16 points from Brent Thomason and 10 from Chase Eskew.
"The guys gave a tremendous effort," said Chaffee coach David Mirly. "We were out-manned at every position. We played as well as we could play and were in a position to win the game."
ZALMA -- Craig Bock poured in 36 points to lead Delta past stubborn Zalma, which remained winless.
The Bobcats (5-8) also received 24 points from Lance Kinder, 19 from Joey Keys and 11 from Brent Menz. Kinder dished out 12 assists.
The Bulldogs (0-7) were led by Chad Wiseman with 26 points. Also in double figures were Steve McCain with 17, Tim Lemons with 15 and Nick Reinhardt with 11.
LEOPOLD -- The Wildcats (3-8) knocked off the Blue Jays (3-7) for the second time this season.
Scott VanGennip led Leopold with 12 points and Clayton Jansen had 10. Oak Ridge got 15 points from both Adam Hahs and Clayton Ruesler.
MARBLE HILL -- Dexter rolled over Woodland, holding the Cardinals to single-digit scoring in each quarter.
Luke Johnson led Woodland (7-6) with 12 points, followed by Travis Benfield with 11.
Chad Gill paced the Bearcats with 18, while Chris Hyten tallied 15. Hyten had four 3-pointers and Gill three as Dexter dropped nine from beyond the arc.
CRYSTAL CITY -- Perryville romped in its Jefferson County Conference opener. The Pirates (7-3, 1-0) received 19 points from Chad Ozark and 15 from Justin Dreyer.
PERRYVILLE -- St. Vincent fell by two points in its Jefferson County Conference opener. The Indians (5-3, 0-1) were paced by Tyler Wengert with 17 points and Matt Wengert with 12.
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JACKSON -- Jackson managed just one field goal in the first quarter as it trailed throughout an eight-point loss.
"We didn't get out of the starting gate and were playing catch-up ball the rest of the night," said Jackson coach Ron Cook, who saw his team endure a five-minute scoreless stretch the final five minutes of the first quarter, which ended with St. Joseph's ahead 14-3.
The Angels pulled away further, leading 27-13 at halftime and 38-23 after three quarters. Jenna Leet, who scored 10 points, was the only player for Jackson (5-5) to reach double figures.
DELTA -- Third-seeded Delta upset No. 2 Dexter 45-40 to advance to the championship game of the Delta New Year's Tournament.
Twin Rivers defeated No. 5 St. Vincent in Friday's other semifinal 71-42.
In consolation games, No. 4 Oran defeated No. 8 Puxico 54-32 and No. 6 Chaffee ripped No. 7 Woodland 50-9. After losing their first two games, Delta is 7-3. The
Lady Bobcats outscored Dexter 15-7 in the fourth quarter.
"The difference was we hit our free throws," said Delta coach Randy White.
The Lady Bobcats hit 11 of their 12 free throws in the fourth quarter. Katrina Flores hit all four of her free throws and made a 3-pointer in the period as well to account for all seven of her points.
Rebecca Below led Delta with 14 points and helped limit Dexter's top player to just one field goal.
Chelsey Brown led St. Vincent with 10 points against the top-seeded Lady Royals. Twin Rivers' Amanda Lance led the way with 19.
Oran's Maria Eftink scored 27 to lead her team past Puxico. Oran led 18-2 after the first quarter. Chaffee (3-6) got 17 points from Jennifer Vandeven and 11 rebounds from Ashley Graham in the Lady Red Devils' victory over Woodland.