(Park Hills, MO) The top seeded Central Rebels are crowned the champions of the 68th annual Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas tournament after defeating the three seed Farmington Knights 78-61. The Rebels are back-to-back champions and this is their 10th Christmas Tournament championship in team history. Both Central teams finished first in their respective bracket for the first time since 2015.
Central jumped ahead early in the first quarter and held the lead for the duration of the game. They outscored the Knights 19-11 in the first quarter and ended the first half up 41-27. Farmington came out in the second half looking to rally back and outscored the Rebels 19-18 in the third quarter, at one point coming within single digits. Central came back with the dagger in the fourth quarter, however, outscoring Farmington 19-15 to secure their second Christmas Tournament championship win in as many years.
Caden Casey had a huge night for the Rebels, putting up 29 points and shooting 59% from the field. Jobe Bryant also came up big in the win with a double-double, scoring 23 points and collecting 12 rebounds. They were joined on the Central scoresheet by Braydon Berry (14p), Zack Boyd (10p), and Kannon Harlow (2p). Farmington was led by Cannon Roth (26p, 5r) and Logan Schaupert (20p).
The Rebels finished with a 4-0 record in the tournament, securing first place. The Knights record was 3-1 and they finished second.