Cape Central boys basketball team uses height advantage to dump Scott County Central for third place

Central exploited its size advantage to claim third place in the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament Friday.

Senior T.J. Tisdell, a 6-foot-6 forward, usually handles most of the load down low for the Tigers.

But 6-5 sophomore Jamal Cox offered a helping hand against undersized Scott County Central.

Cox scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Tigers past the Braves 81-67.

"I just had the momentum down there in the post," Cox said. "Coach talked to me before the game, just told me what I needed to do better, what I wasn't supposed to do in the game."

Tisdell said he took a lot of pride in watching Cox excel on the big stage at the Show Me Center.

"I've been working with him in practice," Tisdell said. "He's like my little brother. I try to help him out every now and then when I can. He took a lot of pressure off me because when they doubled me, I'd pass to him. If they double him, he pass to me. We just feed off each other."

Tisdell and Cox worked well off each other to overwhelm the Braves. SCC's tallest player who sees regular minutes is junior Tyler Masters, who is listed at 6-3.

"When other kids step up, it's a team coming together," Central coach Drew Church said. "Jamal, each game he is getting a little bit better. I don't know what he did tonight, but he was able to catch and score. He was able to block some shots."

Tisdell's scoring didn't suffer because of Cox's night. Tisdell went 9 of 11 from the field and finished with 20 points.

"Our game plan throughout the year is to play inside out," Church said. "They are very athletic and very quick, but we kind of had a size advantage. So we really wanted to get them in a half-court game and it really worked out where we were able to do some stuff off their press and score. It really was a higher scoring game and more up-tempo game than I expected."

Central's offense excelled because the Tigers often went inside. They shot 61 percent from the field in the game (35 of 57).

"We were looking to go inside out," Central junior Garan Evans said. "They don't really have very big posts like we do."

SCC junior Jaylen Porter, who is listed generously at 5-10, was charged with guarding the Tigers' post players.

"It was pretty hard because with their arms, they're almost 7 foot," Porter said. "You've just got to get position on them and go for the ball. You just got to make sure he stands in front of you and if he goes up, try to stick your hands up as far as you can so it distracts him a little bit. Just make sure he stays in front of you."

Porter did manage to grab some rebounds and scored 14 points.

"He's been a trooper all season," SCC coach Kenyon Wright said about Porter. "He's been the one who's figured out his role on this basketball team better than anybody else has so far yet. You've got to take your hat off to him because he's probably almost the shortest one on the team, but he gets in there and he battles and he knows that is his job. And if he don't get in there and get it, we're going to get beat."

SCC successfully attacked from the outside in the first quarter by going 3 of 5 on 3-pointers. The teams were tied 23-23 after the first eight minutes.

"We really wanted to make them beat us from the outside if they were going to beat us," Church said. "On the inside penetration, we needed to have help from both sides. They have two kids who can flat go and can get around you and score."

But the outside shooting cooled after the first period, which allowed Central to gain the lead. The Braves' pressure defense also didn't provide its usual spark for the offense. Central only turned over the ball seven times in the first half.

"They're a fast-paced team," Evans said. "We just want to get them out of their game."

Central never trailed after the first quarter, but only led by five at halftime. The Braves got within four points with 4 minutes, 50 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Tigers outscored the Braves 13-4 over the remainder of the period. The Braves couldn't overcome the Tigers' 67 percent shooting (18 of 27) in the second half.

LaMarcus Steward led the Braves with 21 points, while Dominique Porter added 18.

Central 23 18 25 15 -- 81

SCC 23 13 17 14 -- 67

CENTRAL (81) -- Ross McClanahan 3, Vance Toole 13, Chandler Bagley 2, Tim Booker 11, Garan Evans 8, T.J. Tisdell 20, Jamal Cox 24. FG 35, FT 10-20, F 12. (3-pointer: Toole 1. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (67) -- Larandis Banks 12, Antwoine Johnson 2, Jaylen Porter 14, Dominique Porter 18, LaMarcus Steward 21. FG 25, FT 11-12, F 19. (3-pointer: Banks 2, D. Porter 2, Steward 2. Fouled out: none)