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Jays extend title run to four after 71-65 win over Caruthersville
MALDEN -- It's not every year the Charleston Bluejays win a district title.
It's just starting to feel that way.
On Thursday the Bluejays sealed their fourth straight Class 3, District 1 championship and fifth in six years with a 71-65 win over Caruthersville.
"I'm thrilled," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "We wanted to play with them on the boards and we done a heck of a job. Shandor Webster had 16 rebounds and Robert Bogan had another eight. That was my biggest concern, the boards.
"We know (Caruthersville) liked them. They miss shots, but they liked to get the rebound and put it back in."
Though the Tigers fought back within a possession in the final minute of the game Charleston led nearly wire-to-wire and never trailed in the contest.
Thanks to an 11-point effort from Delfincko Bogan in the first quarter alone the Bluejays jumped out to a nine-point lead entering the second period. They never let Caruthersville any closer than six points the next two quarters and went into the fourth ahead 54-48.
Back-to-back baskets from senior Robert Bogan pushed Charleston's cushion out to 12, 65-53, with 2:11 to play, but soon after the Tigers launched one last assault.
A couple empty Bluejay trips to the free throw line allowed Caruthersville to score four unanswered points before two straight 3-pointers by Tyrone Alston extended the run to 10-1. Alston's last three came with 28 seconds left and closed his team back within a possession at 66-63.
Caruthersville called a timeout the next few possessions and quickly sent the Bluejays to the line. Webster hit both attempts and following a missed Tiger 3-pointer, Charleston was back on the line.
Delfincko Bogan hit the second of two shots at the line and Caruthersville followed up with a Deshawn Lee layup to stay five points back with 14 seconds remaining.
Back to the line just seconds later, Delfincko Bogan sunk both of his final free throw attempts, however, and one final missed Tiger three iced the game.
"They knocked down a couple treys and we didn't play real smart then," Farmer said of the Tiger's near comeback. "With 28 seconds left Del (Bogan) probably should have pulled it out, but he went in for the layup. We should have pulled it out and made them panic a little, but it worked out in our favor so we'll work on that."
After a couple sub 20-point games when his team was winning handedly anyway, Delfincko Bogan was back to his big-game self against the Tigers. He finished the night with 32 points on 9 of 16 (56 percent) shooting from the field.
He went 5 of 9 from inside the arc and hit on 4 of 7 attempts from 3-point range, including three straight in the third quarter. Bogan was 10 of 14 at the free throw line while collecting three rebounds, four assists and three steals.
"I told him this is the game where the kings must come to the floor," Farmer said of Bogan, who finished the three-game tournament with 69 points. "I guess he was listening this time."
Delfincko wasn't the only Bogan to have a big night. His brother, Robert, scored 11 points on 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) shooting, grabbing eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in the process.
As Farmer mentioned, Webster had a dominant performance on the boards, easily leading Charleston with 16 and putting up eight points to go with them.
As a team the Bluejays shot 24 of 45 from the field (53.3 percent) and 7 of 16 (43.6 percent) from behind the arc.
"We controlled the boards," Delfincko Bogan said. "They used to depend on me, but now we're in districts and it was going to be tough getting out of here. No team was going to back down from us."
One thing the Tigers were able to do was slow down the Bluejays' run-and-gun style, holding them to a postseason low 71 points. Though speed is one of his team's biggest advantages, Farmer was more than happy to play Caruthersville's style of game.
"We normally play fast when they play man-to-man," Farmer said. "We were surprised they played us a zone and that kind of slowed the game down some. But we can play low scoring games. I think that's to our favor."
A big part of the Bluejays' success came in holding Tiger senior Darrell Monroe in check all night long. After a seven point first quarter, Monroe only managed a basket in each of the final three quarters and four points total in the second half to finish with 15 points.
This comes after Monroe put up 28 points against New Madrid County Central to will his team out of the semifinals with a 78-75 win that included a 16-point, second half effort.
"We did a great job slowing their big guy down," Farmer said of Monroe. "We were concerned about him because he's unstoppable. We thought we did a pretty job on him."
Added Delfincko Bogan, "Both our coaches knew what was going to be done and we knew we were going to come out here and do it. We had to double-teamed Darrell. It was a good game."
Leading Caruthersville was Alston with 19 points on the night. After finishing the first half with just one field goal, the sophomore hit four 3-pointers in the final two quarters as part of a 17-point second half.
Monroe's 15 points in his final game with Caruthersville were second best on the squad and Jeremy Grant finished with 12 points.
"My kids played with a lot of heart and a lot of effort," Tiger's head coach Tim Smith said. "I'm blessed to have a good group of kids. We just couldn't get it done."
On top of being their fifth title in six years, Charleston (21-6) has now won the district crown in 12 of the past 16 years and at least appeared in the title game in 15 of the last 16 seasons.
They play Clearwater in the Class 3 sectionals Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bearcat Even Center in Dexter.
| Charleston | 20 | 16 | 18 | 17 | - | 71 |
| Caruthersville | 11 | 16 | 21 | 17 | - | 65 |
CHARLESTON (71) -- Robert Bogan 11, Delfincko Bogan 32, Demontrail Clark 2, Shandor Webster 8, Michael Kellum 9, Timontrell Horton 9. FG 24, FT 16-28, F 17. (3-pointers: Delfincko Bogan 4, Kellum 3. Fouled out: none.)
CARUTHERSVILLE (65) -- Jamal Johnson 8, Tyrone Alston 19, Jeremy Grant 12, Deshawn Lee 4, Coleman Tramble 5, Darrell Monroe 15. FG 25, FT 12-24, F 25. (3-pointers: Alston 3. Fouled out: Alston, Grant, Lee.)