MAAA Conference — Boys opening round

• Raiders, Trojans, Dragons and Warriors all advance

BONNE TERRE —The boys opening round of the MAAA Conference Tournament saw little surprise as only No. 9 North County was able to claim a minor upset over No. 8 Bismarck and join the five through seven seeds in advancing to the tournament’s quarterfinals to play the top four seeds which had all received a bye. The rest of the tournament will be played at Mineral Area College.

#9 North County 91, #8 Bismarck 69

The North County Raiders exploded offensively from the starting tip to score 30 points in the first quarter on their way to a 91-69 win over the Bismarck Indians.

Dakotah Huff initiated his team-leading 27 points with a pair of threes, and Tyler Cassidy and Adam McGraw scored at will as they tallied 24 points between them in the first quarter. Cassidy finished with 23 for the Raiders and McGraw scored 18.

Scoring only 13 in the first quarter, the Indians were unable to decrease the early lead as they were outscored in every quarter except the fourth where both teams finished out their game with 20 points.

J.D. Land put together a 10-point third quarter to lead the Indians in scoring with 27. Seth Wood and Jordan Copeland both finished with 12 points. Wood scored a three in every quarter for his 12, and Copeland scored the bulk of his points in the second quarter with eight.

The Raiders were on target at the line as well, going 13-15 as a team.

North County (7-12) will play No. 1 Farmington at 7 p.m. on Monday, and Bismarck (11-9) will next play Fredericktown on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

#5 Potosi 56, #12 Fredericktown 34

The Potosi Trojans defense held the winless Fredericktown Blackcats to only one free throw in the first quarter, setting the tone for their eventual 56-34 win.

The Trojans, however, were not able to put the game away as they struggled to make their offense potent, scoring only four field goals in the first quarter and three in the second to hold a 20-10 lead at the half.

The Trojans were able to get the ball into their center Dylan Coleman in the second half, and after only scoring three in the first half, he obliged by scoring 27 of his game-high 30 points.

Fredericktown’s Tyler Helm, who also scored only three points in the first two quarters, made up for it with four baskets in the third to finish with 17.

Potosi (9-10) will now take on Arcadia Valley on Monday       

at 8:30 p.m., and Fredericktown will play Bismarck on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

#6 Ste. Genevieve 72, #11 Valley 42

The Ste. Genevieve Dragons were able to establish their offensive game early against the small-school Valley Vikings, and they suffered only a small lapse in the second quarter before pushing on to a 72-42 win.

The Trojans scored at least 20 points in each quarter but were held to only 11 by Valley’s defense in the second while the Vikings scored 12 in the same frame.

Brendan Dallas collected his second three-point shot in the third quarter to lead the Dragons in scoring with 14, and Derek Meyer scored eight of his game’s 12 points also in the third. Ste. Genevieve had 11 players score in the game.

Kohen Waller scored a three-pointer in very quarter to finish with a game-high 17 for the Vikings.  

Ste. Genevieve (11-9) will play Central in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday at 7 p.m., and Valley (1-16) will take on Kingston in a consolation semi-final on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

#7 Valle Catholic 78, #10 Kingston 44

After challenging the No. 7 Valle Catholic Warriors for the first half of their game, the Kingston Cougars found the basket on the opposite end of the floor unattainable for the third quarter. The Warriors defense forced five turnovers by the Cougars and their offense capitalized on the mistakes to put together a 21-0 quarter  on their way to a 78-44 win.

The two teams started the game with quite different offense strategies as the Cougars opted to score inside while the Warriors elected to shoot from the perimeter.

With 45 seconds left in the first quarter,  a lay-in by Kingston’s Joey Lovett tied the score at 14-14, but a putback just before the buzzer by Tyler Uding gave Valle an 18-16 lead.

The Warriors ran out to a 28-20 lead quickly in the second quarter, Alan Shawgo hit back-to-back threes for Kingston, and Seth Kamper added another to pull to within one at 30-29. The Warriors  finished out the half with a three from Tyler Shuh and one from Uding to start a 27-0 run lasting into the fourth quarter.

Dayton Shepard broke the drought for the Cougars with a lay-up for the first basket of the fourth quarter, and Kingston took off on their own mini-run of seven straight with Shawgo nailing his fourth three of the game. Shawgo led the Cougars offense in scoring with 14 points.

The Warriors had four players finish in double figures  with Andrew Basler and Connor Basler matching for the high with 15 points each. Uding finished with 14, and Bryant Vessell scored 11.

Valle (12-6) will take on West County on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., Kingston (11-8) will play Valley on Wednesday at the same time.   

Kingston’s Joey Lovett (32) gets rid of a pass before Valle’s Bryant Vessell (12) can intercept.

Kingston’s Alan Shawgo (44) chases down the ball after stripping it from Valle’s Daniel Bergtholdt (10) at midcourt.

Daniel Bergtholdt goes up with a shot but is fouled by a Kingston player in the second quarter.