CAUBLE NETS 37 AS SCOTT CITY ROMPS IN DISTRICT

BLOOMFIELD -- Scott City High's boys basketball team opened defense of its Class 2A, District 2 Tournament championship Monday night by routing Puxico 103-63.

The win for the top-seeded Rams over the No. 8 seed propels them into Thursday's semifinals against the winner of today's 5:30 p.m. game between Notre Dame and Kelly.

Bernie, seeded second, also prevailed Monday as the Mules downed No. 7 Greenville 79-64.

There was a upset, however, as host Bloomfield -- the No. 6 seed -- knocked off No. 3 Woodland 53-48. Bloomfield had also beaten Woodland just a few days ago.

Bernie and Bloomfield will meet in one semifinal Thursday night.

Scott City, which improved to 23-4, got 37 points from senior Dustin Cauble. Fellow senior Chris Sisk added 18 points while Tim Lowery contributed 12.

The Rams were never headed, leading 29-14 after one quarter and 59-31 at halftime.

Bernie (18-7) was led by Brandon Stone with 27 points. The Mules had some trouble, trailing 22-18 after one quarter, but they eventually pulled away.

Bloomfield (15-10) got 21 points from Nathan Conner. Woodland (17-10) countered with 23 points from Shawn Massa and 12 from Travis Whitener, but it was not enough.

Class 2A, District 3

CRYSTAL CITY -- St. Vincent is seeded only fifth for the Class 2A, District 3 Tournament hosted by Crystal City, but the Indians are certainly capable of much more than that.

They proved that Monday night by beating fourth-seeded Caledonia Valley 56-45 in a quarterfinal game.

The Indians (11-14) advance to Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Crystal City. St. Vincent beat the Hornets 83-75 in overtime earlier this season.

"It's really a wide-open tournament," said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. "Several teams could win it and we feel like we're one of them."

Jonathan Wengert scored 21 points and Chad Winkler added 13 to pace the Indians against Valley.

"We played pretty well defensively for the most part, especially in the second half," said Valleroy. "We hit our free throws in the fourth quarter. It was a pretty solid overall game."

St. Vincent led 17-12 after one quarter and 33-24 at halftime.

Looking ahead to Wednesday's semifinal matchup against the No. 1 seed, Valleroy said, "It should be a good game. They're tough. We had a really good game with them last time."

Class 1A, District 2

ORAN -- The favored teams all won with ease Monday night as the Class 1A, District 2 Tournament got under way at Oran.

Second-seeded Richland beat No. 7 Zalma 86-66, No. 3 Advance downed No. 6 Bell City 69-50 and No. 4 Delta defeated No. 5 Oran 82-59.

Top-seeded Scott County Central earned a bye into tonight's semifinals, where the Braves will play Delta at 7. The other semifinal, at 8:30, will pit defending 1A state champion Richland against Advance.

Girls play, which features just three teams, will get under tonight as No. 2 Scott Central plays No. 3 Oran at 5:30. The winner advances to Thursday's finals against No. 1 Delta.

Richland (17-4) was led in scoring by Tony Herrion with 20 points. Eric Blair had 18 and Jeremy Conner 13. Zalma (2-21) got 29 points from Terry Hendrix, 19 from Michael Wade and 12 from Adam Wallace. The Rebels were ahead 51-27 at halftime.

Advance (16-10) got 26 points from Brock Cato and 18 from Matt DeJournett. Bell City (7-17) was led by Jacob Jenkins with 23 points. Jay Gadberry added 10. The Hornets grabbed a 32-21 halftime lead.

Delta (17-10) placed five players in double figures: Andy Blattel with 15, Garrett DeBrock with 13, Jeremiah Cook with 12, Justin Vandeven with 12 and Sammy Below with 11. Oran (8-15) got 23 points from Jared Hamm and 11 from Dustin Dannenmueller. The Bobcats led 44-31 at the break.

Class 1A, District 3

PATTON -- Marquand's higher seed and lofty record didn't mean much to Leopold as the fifth-seeded Wildcats easily disposed of the Class 1A, District 3 Tournament's fourth seed 71-53 Monday in opening-round play at Meadow Heights.

In other first-round games Monday, top-seeded Lesterville beat No. 8 Meadow Heights 88-53, No. 3 South Iron topped No. 6 Oak Ridge 78-63 and second-seeded Ste. Genevieve Valle hammered No. 7 Bunker 92-36.

Leopold's Matt Beussink, a 5-foot-11 senior, led all scorers with 23 points, Lariedon Engelen added 18 and Scott Engelen finished with 10.

Leopold improved to 9-14. Marquand finished its season at 17-5.

"This was a big win for us," said Leopold coach Carlton Thoma. "Marquand has had a great season. We played well -- we shot well and we defended well. We attacked the goal and I thought that was the difference in the game."

Leopold led 18-15 after one quarter before outscoring Marquand 15-5 in the second period.

For Marquand, Dusty Stephens had 12 points and Brandon Settle added 10.

Oak Ridge finished its season at 8-16 with its loss.

The Blue Jays led 18-16 after one quarter, but relinquished the lead shortly thereafter.

For Oak Ridge, seniors Kirt Ruehling and Aric Curry had 24 and 23 points, respectively.

The semifinals will take place Wednesday night as Leopold plays Lesterville at 5:30 and South Iron takes on Valle at 8:30.