Semifinals Are Set at the 38th Annual Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield

The semifinal round matchups are set at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.

Christ The King out of Middle Village, New York will play Link Academy from Branson in Friday’s first semifinal at 7:30 p.m., while Sunrise Christian Academy from Bel Aire, Kansas will meet Calvary Christian of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the second semi at 9:30 p.m.

In Thursday’s tournament opener, Christ The King defeated Bartlett High School (TN) 61-48.

The Royals held a 28-24 lead at halftime, but outscored Panthers 15-9 in the third period to go up by double digits entering the final frame, but could get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Christ The King, who is the most frequent participant in the TOC (20 tournaments, five titles) got balanced scoring from Brandon Williams with 16 points, Devin Vanterpool with 13, Dwayne Pierce with 12 points and Brandon Gardner with ten.

Christian Alston led the Panthers with 13.

The Royals shot 50% from the field (19-38) and outscored Bartlett 22-12 in the paint.

The Link Academy Lions improve to 17-0 on the season with a 74-52 win over St. Rita of Chicago.

Link Academy struggled early on, leading 14-10 after one quarter and 29-24 at the half.

But the Lions began to pull away in the third period, leading 55-40 heading into the final eight minutes.

Ja’Kobe Walter, who’s committed to play college basketball at Baylor, scored 18 points to lead the Lions, with B.J. Davis and Aaron Rowe adding 11 each.

Nojus Indrusaitis (16 points) and James Brown (14 points) paced the Mustangs.

The Lions shot 56% from the field and converted on seven of 15 attempts from beyond the arc despite struggling from the free throw line, where they went 5-13 (38.5%).

Sunrise Christian Academy proved to be too much for the Springfield Kickapoo Chiefs,

The Buffaloes sprinted to a 22-7 lead after one quarter before going into halftime up 38-13.

Sunrise Christian was led by Matas Buzelis with 13 points, while Miro Little added 12 and Layden Blocker put in 11.

Harrison Doennig and Brayden Shorter each scored ten points for the Chiefs, who hit only four of 14 attempts from three point range, while the Buffaloes went 13-24.

Sunrise Christian scored 24 points off Chiefs’ turnovers, while Kickapoo only managed two points off turnovers.

A big part of that is the Buffaloes took care of the ball, committing only five turnovers for the game.

In the closest game of the opening night, Calvary Christian from Fort Lauderdale, Florida withstood a charge from Staley High School from North Kansas City to win 64-57.

The Eagles led by seven, 34-27 at the half, but Staley used a 14-8 third quarter advantage to pull within a point heading into the final eight minutes.

The Falcons grabbed the lead in a back and forth opening four minutes of the fourth quarter.

Staley went ahead 50-49 with 3:39 left in regulation, but Calvary Christian’s Jaylen Curry hit a three pointer 18 seconds later to give the Eagles a lead they would not relinquish.

The Eagles went on a 9-1 run and put the game away from the free throw line.

Carl Cherenfant led all scorers with 19 points for Calvary Christian, with Curry adding 17 and Shon Abaev putting in ten points.

Cameron Manyawu’s 18 points paced the Falcons, followed by Kyan Evans’ 17 points.

Calvary Christian shot 60% from the field and connected on four of nine three point attempts, while going 18-23 at the free throw line.

Here are the final scores from the opening round of the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions:

Final: Christ The King (Middle Village New York) 61, Bartlett (TN) 48

Final: Link Academy (Branson) 74, St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 52

Final: Sunrise Christian (Bel Aire, KS) 68, Springfield Kickapoo 35

Final: Calvary Christian (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) 64, Staley High School (North Kansas City, MO) 57

Here’s the Semifinal Round schedule of games for Friday at the 38th Bass Pro Tournament of Champions:

Consolation Semifinal: Bartlett (TN) vs. St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 4:30 p.m.

Consolation Semifinal: Springfield Kickapoo vs. Staley High School (North Kansas City, MO) 6:00 p.m.

Winner’s Bracket Semifinal: Christ The King (Middle Village, NY) vs. Link Academy (Branson) 7:30 p.m.

Winner’s Bracket Semifinal: Sunrise Christian (Bel Aire, KS) vs. Calvary Christian (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) 9:30 p.m.

The tournament concludes on Saturday with the 7th Place game at 2:30 p.m., the Consolation Final at 4:00 p.m., the Great Southern Bank Slam Dunk Contest at 6:00 p.m., the 3rd Place Game at 7:00 p.m., and the Championship Game at 9:00 p.m.