Ste. Genevieve and North County Advance to MAAA Boys Championship

(Park Hills) It was an action-packed night for the boys’ semifinals of the M.A.A.A. conference tournament at Mineral Area College. The evening started with fourth-seeded Ste. Genevieve upsetting the top-seed Central Rebels 64-61.

Ste. Gen started the game on a 7-0 run but that was the largest lead they had all night. The first half included five lead changes and ended in Central’s favor with a 31-28 lead.

The Dragons regained the lead in the third only for the Rebels to take it right back.

Central was up 60-54 with less than two minutes to go when Ste. Gen’s Ricky Hunter swung the momentum.

Trailing by two with less than 60 seconds to go, Dragon junior Aiden Boyer had a chance to put his team on top.

Boyer converted the free throw to give the Dragons a one-point lead and two more down the stretch to make it 64-61 with ten seconds to go. Central had one final chance.

It’s the first time in Ste. Gen coach Rob Coleman’s 15 years that his team beat Central in the conference tournament.

Hunter was the Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the Game with 23 points. Boyer added 14 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while senior Rudy Flieg supplied 13 points and 10 rebounds. Coleman says he was happy for his guys.

Central’s Jobe Bryant recorded 24 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Ste. Gen improves to 16-6. Central moves to 16-4.

In the second semifinal, the North County Raiders secured their spot in the M.A.A.A title game with their third straight win over Farmington 60-55. It was the Knights that started out hot, taking a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Everyone for Farmington was finding a way to get involved.

The tides started to change in the second quarter for the Raiders as Junior Guard Layne Wigger started to catch fire, capping off a 20-8 run in the quarter and giving North County a 2 point lead going into halftime.

It was more of the same coming out of the locker rooms for North County. Everything was falling for the blue and gold and were able to maintain the lead in the third.

The Raiders stretched the lead to double figures in the fourth.

There was still fight left for Farmington late and were able to cut the lead to 5. However, North County was able to subdue the comeback attempt and convert at the free-throw line down the stretch. Layne Wigger was our Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the Game with 23 points. Head Coach Jimmy Palmer says it was more than just Wigger that contributed.

Bracey Blanton scored 18 points and had 5 assists for Farmington. The Raiders improve to 12-9 and the Knights fall to 10-10.

This means our slate of games for championship Saturday is set. On the girl’s side of the brackets, Central and West County will square off in the 3rd place game while Farmington and North County will have a rematch for the M.A.A.A Crown.

For the boys, it’s Central and Farmington for third and the M.A.A.A title will be decided between North County and Ste. Genevieve.

Coverage begins with the Fliegs Equipment Pregame Show at 1:45 on J98 The Boot or streaming online at MyMoInfo.com.

Post Game Interviews:

Rob Coleman –