Offense at a premium for Bluejays in semifinal

sports@standard-democrat.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Cape Central caused all sorts of problems for the second-seeded Charleston Bluejays.

The taller Tigers squad made it difficult for Charleston (6-4) to find driving lanes and score from underneath the bucket. Add to it that the Bluejays struggled from the floor, shooting 1 of 21 from 3-point range, which limited their scoring options.

With offense at a minimum, Charleston fell to No. 3 Cape Central 71-47 Saturday during the seMissourian Christmas Tournament semifinals at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

"We didn't play very well and I think Cape had a lot to do with it," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "The big guys inside -- we looked like we seen a couple of ghosts."

Cape Centrals "big guys" combined for 36 points and kept the Bluejays' from scoring inside. 6-7 senior Jamal Cox and 6-6 junior Andre Statam made it difficult for Charleston's dynamic scorer, junior Delfincko Bogan, to drive to the rim. Even Charleston's tallest player, 6-5 senior Shandor Webster, couldn't find a rhythm inside.

"We know (Delfincko Bogan) is a great player and Shandor's a great player so we just wanted them to take tough shots that were contested or outside shots," Cape Central head coach Drew Church said. "They are very good at getting in the lane and making plays and they're very good in transition. That was our goal and I think we did somewhat of a good job of doing that."

Delfincko Bogan ended up with 19 points on 4 of 15 shooting from the floor. He went 10 of 12 from the free throw line and hit the Bluejays' only 3-pointer on 1 of 6 from behind the arc. Webster, who also battled foul trouble, scored seven on 3 of 10 shooting.

With the inside locked down, Charleston tried their luck away from the paint but failed there too missing all but one of their 21 3-point attempts. As a team Charleston shot 14 of 55 from the field (25 percent).

"We were going to spread the floor and see if we could knock it down," Farmer said. "We realized we couldn't make the outside so we wanted to penetrate. We had some easy ones under the bucket and the big guys intimidated us a little bit. We missed easy shots. You can't miss easy shots against them because you're not going to get easy shots because they're so big."

Robert Bogan scored 17 points for Charleston on 6 of 11 shooting. He also had nine rebounds, including seven offensive boards.

Statam led Cape Central with 19 points while Cox added 17. Al Young scored 15, which included 11 in the first quarter.

"We want to go inside and that's no secret," said Church. "Our bigs are our main part of our offense. We were able to find them some and get one of their big guys in foul trouble. Our guards stepped up and got some buckets in transition and we passed the ball well. I thought is was a total team effort."

Cape Central shot out to a 21-11 lead after the first quarter and then 37-25 at halftime. Charleston scored just eight points to start the second half as the Tigers extended their lead to 54-33 going into the fourth quarter.

"It happens," said Farmer. "You have to pack up and try to live another day."

Cape Central moves on to the championship game against top-seeded Jackson tonight at 7:30 p.m. Charleston will take on No. 5 Scott County Central for third place at 6 p.m.

"It's a tossup," Farmer said about his potential third place matchup with SCC. "You never know which team is going to come out and play."

Cape Central 21 16 17 17 -- 71

Charleston 11 14 8 14 -- 47

CAPE CENTRAL (71) -- Niklus Thompson 1, Al Young 15, Jalen Reddin 2, Jamal Cox 17, Chase Haggerty 6, Mikey Jones 9, Dusty Tolbert 2, Andre Statam 19. FG 28 FT 14-18. (3-pointers: Young 1. Fouled out: none)

CHARLESTON (47) -- Christian Allen 1, Robert Bogan 17, Delfincko Bogan 19, Demontrail Clark 2, Shandor Webster 7, Mike Kellum 1. FG 14 FT 18-26. (3-pointers: D. Bogan 1. Fouled out: none)

Oran 70, Chaffee 65

The Oran Eagles advanced to the fifth-place game of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament Saturday after defeating Chaffee 70-65.

No. 6 Oran will play No. 4 Notre Dame today at 4:30 p.m. to try and repeat their fifth-place performance during the same tournament last year.

Hunter Schlosser led Oran with 20 points. Jacob Priggel and Chance Tenkhoff each scored 17 while Seth Ressel added 14.

Chaffee was led by Charlie Montgomery's 22 points. Peyton Montgomery scored 19.

Chaffee 17 11 25 12 -- 65

Oran 22 15 17 16 -- 70

CHAFFEE (65) -- Layton Tenkhoff 9, Peyton Montgomery 19, Storm Estes 3, Jimmy Golden 3, Tyler Golden 5, Charlie Montgomery 22, Trevor Morehead 4. FG 27, FT 8-15, F 17. (3-pointers: L. Tenkhoff 1, P. Montgomery 1, Estes 1. Fouled out: none)

ORAN (70) -- Thomas Trankler 2, Jacob Priggel 17, Chance Tenkhoff 17, Seth Ressel 14, Hunter Schlosser 20. FG 27, FT 13-16, F 13. (3-pointers: C. Tenkhoff 1, Ressel 1, Schlosser 1. Fouled out: none)