(Park Hills, MO) The second seeded South Iron Panthers defeated the fifteen seed Perryville Pirates 78-47 in the opening game of round 1 day 2 in the 68th annual Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas Tournament.
The Panthers shot 53% from the field in the game and went 5 for 8 at the free-throw line. Perryville surrendered 19 turnovers with nearly ten in the first quarter alone. South Iron took advantage of the turnovers and opened a gap quickly. At the end of the first half, the score sat at 50-24. The Panthers put a pin in the game by the end of the third quarter where they outscored the Pirates 22-14 making the deficit too large for Perryville to overcome.
South Iron was led in scoring by Marquis Burse, who put up 23 points and shot 63% from the field. He was helped by Sawyer Huff (14p) and Ty Harlow (12p, 80% FG%). Perryville’s Jake Cissell put up 13 points and was joined in double digit scoring by Waylon Huber (10p) and Evan Hayden (10p).
The Panthers will play the DeSoto Dragons in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Dec. 28 at 7pm. The Pirates will play the Ste Genevieve Dragons in the consolation bracket on Thursday at 10am.