NMCC pulls off second upset, takes down Cape Central to make SEMO Conference Tournament consolation final

SIKESTON, Mo. -- After watching their hopes of a second SEMO Conference Tournament title get gashed by the top seed, New Madrid County Central went to work on the consolation prize.

The ninth-seeded Eagles pulled off their second upset of the tournament with a 65-58 win over No. 5 Cape Central Wednesday during a consolation semifinal at the Sikeston Field House.

Javarcus Word led all scorers with 22 points and Palmer Campbell added 19 for NMCC, who had a four-game win streak snapped on Tuesday during an 81-63 rout from Sikeston.

"We were a total different team from last night," NMCC coach Travis Day said. "We didn't run our offense last night and tonight we were patient, moved the ball around, we didn't settle for bad shots and got good shots. We played hard on defense, kept the ball out of the paint, rebounded better. Everything we didn't do last night we did tonight."

Jawone Newell scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter for the Tigers (3-2). Zyshon Mallory added 14 points on 7 of 10 shooting and seven rebounds while Austin Parker scored 10.

New Madrid County Central's JaMonte Sykes tries to steal the ball from Cape Central's Zyshon Mallory in the SEMO Conference Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

New Madrid County Central's JaMonte Sykes tries to steal the ball from Cape Central's Zyshon Mallory in the SEMO Conference Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the Sikeston Field House.

Parker, who touched up No. 4 Charleston in a 67-66 loss on Tuesday with 18 points, was a defensive focus for NMCC. The 6-5 junior scored six points in the first half but was limited to four more in the second on just two field goal attempts.

"We wanted to force him to be a jump shooter and make it hard for him to get easy buckets," Day said. "The first half we fell asleep on him a few times. But in the second half when we got down into the half court we guarded and knew where he was at. Good things happened for us then."

There were 12 lead changes between the two until Campbell broke a 33-33 tie with five consecutive points at the 4:15 mark in the third quarter. NMCC never trailed from that point on leading 47-38 at the end of the third quarter.

The Eagles led by as much as 14 with 2:07 left to play and staved off one last Cape Central push.

The Tigers, who after losses to Charleston and NMCC (4-2) are eliminated from tournament play, pulled within six after a 3-pointer from Brice Margenthaler with 58 seconds remaining but couldn't find more.

NMCC will take on sixth-seeded Notre Dame, who took out Dexter in the other consolation semifinal 58-47, on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

NMCC 16 17 14 18 -- 65

Cape Central 15 14 9 20 -- 58

NMCC (65) -- Palmer Campbell 19, Johnny Walker 8, JaMonte Sykes 6, Craig Beasley 2, Javarcus Word 22, Eddie Grandberry 4, Thailin Marsh 2, Jaurous Haynes 6. FG 26 FT 8-12 F 14. (3-pointers: Campbell 2, Word 3. Fouled out: none.)

CAPE CENTRAL (58) -- Zyshon Mallory 14, Jawone Newell 16, Caleb Oswald 3, Austin Parker 10, Blake Harris 4, Kinyon Hodges 4, Kway'Chon Chisom 2, Brice Margenthaler 3, Prei Woodson 2. FG 23 FT 7-14 F 15. (3-pointers: Newell 2, Oswald 1, Hodges 1, Margenthaler 1. Fouled out: none.)