Cairo and Sturgeon Coast into Semis, Community Eliminates Three-Seed Keytesville

The Cairo, Wellsville-Middletown, Community, and host Sturgeon boys advanced to the Class 1, District 10 semifinals with victories Tuesday.

Top-seeded Cairo defeated fellow CAC school Madison 88-40. The 22-4 and fifth-ranked Bearcats cruised to a 36-7 lead after the first quarter. Head coach Nic Zenker reacted postgame.

Zenker’s sophomore guard Justyn Gittemeier recorded a career-high 21 points. Madison senior Tyler Buck scored nine in his last game for the 1-21 Panthers. Cairo meets fifth-seeded Wellsville-Middletown in the semifinals Thursday.

Wellsville outlasted Glasgow 46-43 in the second contest. Glasgow trailed 35-30 through three quarters, but Yellowjacket sophomore Drew Sanders evened the score late.

Eric Duick with the call of a game-tying 3-pointer with a minute and a half left on KIRK and centralmoinfo.com. 11-10 Wellsville later broke the tie at the free throw line, where the Tigers scored their final five points. Wellsville’s Clayton Ebers and Dennis Hunt provided a combined 36 points, and Sanders paced 13-12 Glasgow with 18. The Yellowjackets opened the game with a 12-2 lead before the teams entered the half tied at 21.

The sixth-seeded Community Trojans upset the third-seeded Keytesville Tigers 65-47. The Tigers went just 5-for-19 from the charity stripe and struggled knocking down shots from long range. Community’s Caden Escamilla led the way with 33 points and knocked down some key shots late in the game.

Austin Ward with the call. Danny Kuda scored 16 for the Trojans. Austin McKinstry led Keytesville with 23 points but couldn’t play as aggressive defensively after picking up his third foul early in the second quarter. The Tigers end the season at 17-7.

In the final contest, the Sturgeon Bulldogs blew out the Higbee Tigers in the first half to head to the break with a 47-18 advantage before finishing with a 78-58 win. Higbee’s offense came alive in the second half largely thanks to William Gibson’s 30 points. The Bulldogs got an offensive surge from Mikel Sturgeon, who scored 20 despite averaging just four points per game. Coach Michael Smith explained how he got it done.

Higbee finishes the year 11-14. Sturgeon moves to 16-10 and has Community in the semifinals.

Cairo head coach Nic Zenker:

Wellsville-Middletown head coach Steve Lasman:

Community head coach Matt Thomas:

Sturgeon head coach Michael Smith:

Higbee head coach Tanner Burton: