BREESE • Six weeks ago, Central beat Mater Dei in the finals of the Knights' own holiday basketball tournament. On Friday night, the Cougars returned to Mater Dei and did it again.
Brandon Book and Jacob Timmermann scored 14 points apiece to lead Central to a 56-35 romp in a non-conference game that drew a crowd estimated at 2,000.
Central, No. 2 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings and No. 2 in the Illinois Associated Press' Class 2A state poll, improved to 26-1 with its 10th straight victory.
Mater Dei, No. 10 in the AP Class 2A poll, fell to 18-6 with its second consecutive loss and third of the season to the Cougars.
"We played here six weeks ago, and tonight we would see if we'd gone forward or backward," Central coach Stan Eagleson said. "I really think we've gone forward a little bit. Hopefully, we can continue to do that the rest of the way. I just thought we played well."
The Cougars, who missed their first four shots of the contest, played so well they didn't need any scoring from Book, who didn't score until 3 minutes 31 seconds to go in the third quarter. Book entered the game averaging 20.9 points.
Central led 10-4 after one quarter, 21-9 at half and, with Book getting his game rolling in the second half, it was up 35-22 after three quarters.
Book scored all his points in a 10-minute span in the third and fourth quarters. In addition to scoring 14 points, he finished with a game-best eight rebounds.
The Knights only led one time -- 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Cory Arentsen with 5:22 left in the first quarter -- before the Cougars took control with a 9-0 run on three straight 3-pointers by Austin Rickhoff (eight points), Timmermann and Rickhoff.
"We didn't turn the ball over (only four)," Eagleson said. "We didn't get frustrated. We didn't get too high or too low. We were ahead for most of the game and that helped."
Arentsen scored a game-high 15 points to lead Mater Dei's offense.
Mater Dei coach Brian Perkes said early misplays derailed the Knights.
"We turned it over the first three times and you can see what happens if we have to play from behind with them," he said. "We physically can't guard them and play man-to-man with them. We just can't do it."
