(Park Hills, MO) The top seeded Central Rebels defeated the nine seed Steelville Cardinals to begin the quarterfinal round of the 68th annual Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas Tournament. Central led throughout, despite Steelville coming within one point in the second quarter.
Central came out shooting to begin the game, outscoring the Cardinals 16-8 in the first quarter. Steelville opened the second quarter with a run to bring the score within one, but the Rebels quickly took off from that point. Central went into halftime with a 33-19 lead. The Cardinals kept their head above water in the third quarter only being outscored by seven, and scoring as much as the Rebels in the fourth. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to close the deficit and Central punched their ticket to the semifinals.
Jobe Bryant put up 31 points and shot 57% from the field, leading Central on the scoresheet. He was helped by Caden Casey (19p) and Zack Boyd (12p, 6r). Steelville was led by a 19 point game from Owen McPeters.
Central will play the Hillsboro Hawks in the semifinal round on Friday, Dec. 29 at 6pm. Steelville will play the Potosi Trojans on Friday at 3pm.
