West County And Jefferson Advance To Class 3 District 3 Boys Championship

Logos courtesy of Arcadia Valley, Clearwater, Grandview, Jefferson, Kingston, St. Pius and West County

(Arcadia Valley) West County and Jefferson will meet in the Class 3 District 3 boys tournament championship game Friday night. #1 seed West County defeated #4 seed St. Pius 69-36.

The Bulldogs dominated out of the gate, jumping out to a 17-1 lead before ending the first quarter up 22-7. Then, with 6:41 remaining in the second quarter, West County senior Caden Merrill went down with a lower body injury that paused the game for 30 minutes. Both teams went to their respective locker rooms as Merrill was tended to, and he was eventually taken out on a stretcher. After a brief warm-up period, the game resumed.

St. Pius cut the deficit to nine points, but West County’s Ty Harlow scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the first half to propel the Bulldogs…

It was an all-out team effort for West County, with Carter Reed scoring 14 points while knocking down four three-pointers and Levi Hale providing seven blocked shots and 10 rebounds to go with nine points. Coach Chris Labruyere was proud of his team for rallying around Caden Merrill…

West County improves to 14-11. St. Pius sophomore Jonas Andrews hit four three-pointers in the loss. The Lancers end their season with a record of 14-13.

To conclude the day, #2 seed Jefferson used a strong second half to pull away from #6 seed Clearwater and come out with a 69-61 win. The Blue Jays received an unexpected boost from freshman guard Cooper Frisk, who played great defense and scored 11 points.

Kaleb Weiler led Jefferson with 19 points and 17 rebounds. After the game, Jefferson head coach Sean Breeze talked about his team’s in-game turnaround.

Charles Robbins scored 31 for Clearwater in a losing effort. Clearwater head coach Zac Moore shared the message he had for his players after the game.

Clearwater ends their season with a 12-15 record while Jefferson improves to 14-11. The Blue Jays advance to Friday night’s championship game against West County.

Interviews:

West County’s Chris Labruyere: