First Round Games of Central Christmas Tournament Conclude in Park Hills

(Park Hills) Four more exciting first round boys basketball games were broadcast on J-98 on Wednesday as part of the Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas Tournament, being played this week in Park Hills. 2-seed South Iron had no problems against 15-seed Perryville. The Panthers downed the Pirates 78 to 47. South Iron was hitting the threes quite often in the first half of the game.

Panthers coach Dusty Dinkins was happy with his starters effort and he talks about their senior standout, Marquis Burse, who had a great first game of the tournament.

Next up, the Battle of the Dragons as Desoto squared off against Ste. Genevieve. The McClinton brothers led in scoring with Evan putting 25 points on the board and Cole having 14 for a total of 39.

DeSoto led for the large majority of the game, but did face some adversity in the third quarter.

That play from Devin Flye was our Steak and Shake of Festus Shake It Up Play of the Game. The final score was 67-59 in favor of DeSoto.

Up next, the long awaited rivalry between the Farmington Knights and the North County Raiders. Farmington got the lead early on and despite a solid fight from North County in the first half, the second half saw Farmington take an even greater lead, and never look back.

Farmington ended the game with a final score of 60-28, putting North County in the consolation bracket.

To wrap up the night, the Festus Tigers took on the Fredericktown Blackcats. Despite low scoring from both teams, an impressive defensive effort from Festus led to a final score of 38-22.

Festus advances in the tournament, and will face Farmington on Thursday. Fredericktown will face North County in the consolation quarterfinals Thursday morning. J98 will have coverage of the girls semifinals game between Central and Festus beginning at 12:45.