South Iron, Lesterville Advance To AV Tourney Championship; Clearwater, AV To Play For Third

(IRONTON, Mo.) – The championship and third place games are set for Thursday at the Arcadia Valley Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament. The South Iron Panthers advanced past the Clearwater Tigers Wednesday night 73-40 in the semifinals on J-98. The Panthers used defense to create offense for the second-straight game.

Drenin Dinkins led all scorers with 25 points. Panthers coach Dusty Dinkins said he’s looking forward to an intriguing championship game.

South Iron will meet the Lesterville Bearcats in that championship game, as the Bearcats came from behind to defeat the Arcadia Valley Tigers 67-58 in the second semifinal. Arcadia Valley built an early first half lead, but Lesterville fought back with some hot shooting in the fourth quarter.

Vince Mathes finished with 19 points to lead the way. Bearcats coach Anthony Caruso said his team showed resiliency to get the win.

Lesterville and South Iron will face off in the AV tournament championship for the third straight year at 8 p.m. Thursday. The third place game will be at 6:30 p.m. between Clearwater and Arcadia Valley. Both games can be heard on J-98 with coverage starting at 6:15 p.m.