By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

Published: Monday, February 08, 2010
Updated: Monday, February 8, 2010 11:10 AM CST

BONNE TERRE — While the MAAA Conference girls were finishing up their first round at Arcadia Valley on Saturday, the boys began their play at North County High School with all four of the upper seeds advancing to the quarterfinals which will be played on Monday and Tuesday (weather permitting). The rest of the tournament will be played at Mineral Area College.

Valle 57, Fredericktown 41

The Valle Warriors ran away with things in the fourth quarter of their game with the #9 Fredericktown Blackcats. Leading by only five to start the last eight minutes of play, the #8 Warriors scored at a 2-1 pace to take a 57-41 victory and reach the .500.

Valle’s win was the only defeat of a Large-School team by a Small-School team of the eight games played in the tournament’s opening round on Saturday. Valle (9-9) triumphed at the free throw line with a 17-26 showing while the Blackcats (4-16) made only six free throws in the game.

Bryan Kertz led Valle with 12 points in a balanced scoring attack that saw 12 Warriors contribute. Codee Stamp led Fredericktown with 16 points, Tyler Hagy scored 10 and Ryan Gifford had nine.

Valle will face #1 Arcadia Valley tonight at 7 p.m., and Fredericktown will match up against Kingston on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for consolation play.

West County 65, Kingston 39

The West County Bulldogs had been challenged by the Kingston Cougars in regular season play, but it would not happen on Saturday in the tournament. West County doubled up the Cougars by the half as they coasted to a 65-39 victory.

Zach Priest was magic with the roundball as he scored 31 points in the game. Trevor Kean had 12 points and Trever Morgan followed with nine which was more than any individual Cougar. Kingston’s top three scorers were Ross Politte, Tylor Nunez and Frankie Guenther, each with seven points. 

West County (13-8) is scheduled to tip the ball with Central at 8:30 p.m. tonight in a quarterfinal game, and Kingston (3-14) will play Fredericktown on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

FRIDAY GAME

Jackson 53, Farmington 50

JACKSON — The Farmington Knights braved Friday’s snow to get in a warm-up for the Conference Tournament by traveling to Jackson Friday afternoon to play the Indians in a non-conference game. The Knights received only a 53-50 loss and tedious ride home on Hwy. 32 for their bravery.

Farmington (11-10) held the lead with 30 seconds left in the game, but a determined Indian team took advantage of a Farmington turnover to hand the Knights a 53-50 loss. The teams were tied at the half. 27-27.

Jonathan Bird led the Knights in scoring with 15 points Landon Barks had 13 points and Pete Grindel scored 10.

Farmington, the No. 2 seed, will play their first game of the Conference Tournament against Ste. Genevieve on Tuesday at 8 p.m.