Cats advance to District Semifinals

The Blackcats Basketball Team advanced to the semifinals of the Class Four, District One Tournament with a 54-50 victory over Dexter in the quarterfinals, Monday, at Sikeston.

The Cats, seeded fifth, will play top seed (Cape) Notre Dame, Wednesday (Feb. 22) night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m., at Sikeston High School. In the other semifinal, the host No. 2 Bulldogs will take on No. 3 seed, Perryville, which defeated No. 6 Ste. Genevieve, 74-59. The Championship game will be 7:30 p.m., Friday.

Against Dexter, the Cats were tied 12-12 after one quarter, but trailed 28-25 at the break. The Bearcats increased their lead to 44-38 with a quarter to play, but Fredericktown scored 16 and held Dexter to just six in the deciding fourth quarter.

Keith Jackson drained three 3-pointers and led the Cats with 19 points. Brock Mills scored 16, Justin Sawyer had eight, Tanner Ward had six, Nick Oertel had four, and Jake Korokis had one. Mills added nine rebounds. Ward had seven. Jackson led with five assists.

Friday the Cats won at Valle, 62-46 in the final regular season game.

Mills and Sawyer led with 14 points each. Jackson had 11, Ward had ten, Oertel had eight, and Branum had five. Mills added 12 rebounds.