Disastrous second quarter sends Cahokia to losers bracket

Except for a disastrous second quarter, the Cahokia Comanches held their own own Thursday against St. Louis’ Confluence Academy in the first round of the 75th annual Centralia Holiday Tournament.

Cahokia fell into the tournament’s losers bracket with a 72-58 loss to the Titans.

The Comanches outrebounded Confluence Academy and dominated under their own glass, but they shot just 35 percent from the field, landing just 3 of 20 attempts from 3-point range.

Up by a point after the first quarter, Cahokia gave up a 16-point advantage to Confluence Academy in the second quarter and went into the half down 40-25.

Deavis Johnson led the Comanches with 17 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Richard Robinson pitched in 16 points with seven rebounds, and Cortez Brown added 12 points and all three of Cahokia’s 3-pointers.

Cahokia (4-5) will face Collierville (Tenn.) at 10 a.m. Friday. Collierville was dispatched to the losers bracket by Belleville West. Confluence Academy (9-1) will play the Maroons in the second round at 2 p.m.

Alton 61, Germantown (Tenn.) 53

Germantown kept itself close with eight 3-point baskets, but three Alton players scored in double figures to send the Redbirds into the winners bracket.

Malik Smith scored 22 points with six rebounds in a 61-53 Thursday morning win over Germantown. Smith, a junior, averages 16.3 points per game this season.

Also scoring for Alton were Josh Rivers with 14 and Kevin Caldwell with 13.

Alton (8-1) will face Mundelein-Carmel in a second-round game at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Evanston 68, O’Fallon 59

O’Fallon fell to 4-5 and into the losers bracket of the Holiday Tournament with its loss to Evanston.

The Panthers will face Lausanne at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Evanston will play Champaign Central at 6 p.m.

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 9:22 PM with the headline "Disastrous second quarter sends Cahokia to losers bracket."