Farmington and South Iron Convincingly Advance to the Central Christmas Tournament Championship

(PARK HILLS) The championship is now set for the Boys Central Christmas Tournament with the Farmington Knights and South Iron Panthers advancing through the semifinals Saturday night on J-98.

Top-seeded Farmington trounced the fourth-seeded Festus Tigers 73-35 in the first semifinal game. The Knights took a big lead early and never looked back, with senior Tycen Gray leading the charge.

 
Knights head coach Terry Noble said Gray performed brilliantly, but the other players were key in the win, too.

 
Farmington is now 7-1 on the season and Festus dropped to 7-3.

In the 2nd semifinal of the night, three-seed South Iron took it to two-seed Hillsboro early on and eventually cruised to a 73-57 victory.

The Panthers led 18-6 after 1 and 41-21 at the half. An Austin Ruble 3-pointer put the Panthers up by 18 late in the 3rd.

 
The Hawks got it down to 11 at one point in the 4th before another Ruble 3 extended the advantage to a healthy 14-point margin.

Panthers head coach Dusty Dinkins says the guys established themselves on the defensive end which allowed them to show off their offensive skills.

 
Drenin Dinkins had a game-high 30 points for South Iron. Hillsboro’s Mark Moore led his team with 25 points, including 7 made threes.

South Iron and Farmington will wrap up the 63rd Annual Bob Sechrest Central Christmas Tournament on Monday with the championship game at 7:30 on J-98.