Central Boys, South Iron Girls Are Champions Of The Central Christmas Tournament

(Park Hills)The top seeded Central boys and the number on ranked and top seed South Iron girls claimed championships at the 67th annual Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas Tournament in Park Hills Friday night on J-98

The Central boys knocked off six seed Hillsboro 72-61 to win their own tournament for the first time since 2015. The Rebels built a ten point lead early and had it to 17 before the end of the first half….

Jobe Bryant scored 28, followed by Caden Casey with 15.
Central led by as many as 22 points. Hillsboro called on its bench and went on a 26-13 run to cut the lead to nine, but never truly threatened.
It’s the second victory of the season for Central over Hillsboro.

Coach Brad Gross says they were able to get the game moving their speed early on….

Jobe Bryant also joined us on the Patsy’s Furniture Postgame Show and told us they felt it was time to keep the trophy at home…

The Rebels to to the new year at 10-1. Hillsboro got 13 from Luka Pool and ends 2022 at 8-3.

Full interview with Brad Gross:

Full interview with Jobe Bryant:

Full interview with Hillsboro’s Brian Sucharski:

The girls championship was back-and-forth through the first half. Fredericktown led after the first quarter and went into halftime leading 21-17.

Fredericktown scored the first two points of the third quarter, but South Iron followed that up with a 38-10 run.

South Iron captured their second straight Central Christmas Tournament championship with a 59-42 victory. The Panthers scored 42 points in the second half alone. South Iron coach Jimbo Blackwell told us what the difference was in the third quarter…

Anna Parker scored 23 for South Iron. Allecia Cornell scored 13 and Enzley Dinkins scored 11. PJ Reutzel added 17 for Fredericktown.
South Iron improves to 11-1. Fredericktown falls to 6-7.

Full interview with Jimbo Blackwell:

Full interview with Fredericktown’s Micah Reutzel:

The 7th seeded Potosi Trojans used big second half surge to overcome #4 seed Steelville in the boys third place game. The Cardinals hit three consecutive three to take a nine point lead in the third quarter, but Potosi found another gear and ripped off a 27-4 to win it.

Gabe Brawley scored 25 in the win. Carter Whitley scored 22. Coach Jackson Conaway says his team dug deep in this one…

Landon Mabe pumped in 20 for Class Three 4th ranked Steelville.
Potosi avenged an earlier season loss to Steelville and heads to the new year at 10-2. Steelville falls to 8-3.

Full interview with Jackson Conaway:

The girls third place game was a wire-to-wire victory for the Central Rebels. They beat Steelville 62-30.

Taylor O’Connor scored 14 for the Rebels. Allysa O’Connor added 12 and Kinley Norris gave 13 points for the Rebels. Coach Josh Mapes was proud of his teams’ effort…