The final round matchups are set at the 38th Annual Bass Pro Tournament of Champions at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.
In the winner’s bracket semifinals, Link Academy out of Branson held on to beat Christ The King from Middle Village, New York 55-44.
The Lions scored 32 points off of 25 Royals’ turnovers and outscored Christ The King 32-14 in the paint.
Link Academy, who some polls have as the #1 ranked team in the nation, improve to 18-0 on the season.
Elliot Cadeau (14 points), Cameron Carr (13 points) and Ja’Kobe Walker (12 points) led the way for the Lions.
Link Academy will play Sunrise Christian Academy out of Bel Aire, Kansas, who beat Calvary Christian Academy from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 52-41 in the second semifinal game on Friday.
Sunrise Christian, led by Miro Little and Layden Blocker with 12 points apiece and John Bol with 11, trailed 24-22 at the half and held a one point lead, 35-34, after three quarters before outscoring the Eagles 17-7 in the final eight minutes.
Calvary Christian got 15 points from Carl Cherenfont and 12 points from Jaylen Curry, dropping to 6-8 with the loss.
The Eagles will take on Christ The King in Saturday night’s 3rd Place game at 7:00 p.m.
In the consolation semifinals, St. Rita from Chicago, Illinois downed Bartlett High School from Tennessee 60-42.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 17-7 lead after one quarter and went into halftime ahead 30-21 before outscoring Bartlett 18-11 in the third period.
Morez Johnson scored 23 points and Nojus Indrusaitis added 29 to lead St. Rita, who improves to 10-7 on the season.
Bartlett got 13 points from Javar Daniel, but shot only 36% from the field, including 4-16 from three point range.
The Panthers drop to 15-7, and will play the Kickapoo Chiefs in Saturday’s 7th Place contest.
The Chiefs ran into a hot shooting Staley Falcons team out of North Kansas City.
The Falcons shot an amazing 81.1% from the field (30-37), including seven makes in 11 attempts from beyond the arc.
Leading the way for Staley was Kyan Evans, who scored 23 points on 9-9 shooting, including a perfect 5-5 from three point range.
Cameron Manyawu added 18 points for Staley, who improves to 11-1 overall.
The Chiefs committed 21 turnovers, with Staley scoring 31 points off those miscues.
Trae Oetting (15 points) and Brayden Shorter (14 points) led the way for Kickapoo, who drops to 9-4 on the season.
Chiefs Coach Mitch McHenry kept his team in the locker room for a half hour, then walked into his postgame press conference to say he wasn’t happy with how his team represented itself and southwest Missouri.
Here the the scores from Friday’s Semifinals of the 38th Bass Pro Tournament of Champions:
Consolation Semifinals:
Final: St. Rita 60, Bartlett 42
Final: Staley 73, Springfield Kickapoo 42
Winner’s Bracket Semifinals:
Final: Link Academy 55, Christ The King 44
Final: Sunrise Christian Academy 52, Calvary Christian Academy 41
Here’s the schedule for Saturday’s Final Round of the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions:
7th Place Game: Bartlett vs. Springfield Kickapoo 2:30 p.m.
Consolation Final: St. Rita vs. Staley 4:00 p.m.
Great Southern Bank Slam Dunk Contest 6:00 p.m.
3rd Place Game: Christ The King vs. Calvary Christian Academy 7:00 p.m.
Championship Game: Link Academy vs. Sunrise Christian Academy 9:00 p.m.