The Conway Bears and the Strafford Indians will meet again.
Two of the area's top Class 3 teams will meet in the championship game of the Conway Tournament at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday after both teams won in a runaway in Thursday's semifinals.
Conway 79, Cabool 42
Conway (10-6) got 33 points from senior guard Andrew Huckaby, including 22 points in the first half, and posted a 79-42 win over Cabool. The Bears quickly took control, taking a 17-5 lead midway through the first quarter and racing to a 23-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Huckaby scored 12 points in the first quarter, then added 10 more in the second and cruised to a big lead in the first half.
For Huckaby, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, the 33-point performance on Thursday comes on the heels of a 35-point performance on Saturday against Eugene at the Laker Shootout in Camdenton where he scored 29 first-half points in a 70-36 win.
Huckaby added 21 more in a first-round win over Laquey on Monday.
"The people who just casually watch the game think it's just all Andrew, but the synergy between Chris Vavruska, Tayler Simpson, Austin Chastain and Cody Delcour — they've got it going," Conway head coach Jeff Cope said. "It's a credit to them, they've played together since they were little and this is what happens."
Huckaby made five 3-points on Thursday and is shooting nearly 40 percent from long distance this season according to Cope. On Thursday, he scored 33 points without the benefit of a free throw, but was 15 for 20 from the field.
Cabool (12-4) got 20 points and four rebounds from 6-foot-3 senior forward Tanner Barnes, but the Bulldogs were largely done in by 11 first-half turnovers and an inability to keep up with the hot shooting Bears. While Conway shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first half, Cabool shot just 26.
While Barnes had 20, no other Bulldog player notched more than five points.
Conway (10-6) has now won six straight games since a tough stretch in January in which the Bears dropped games to Ozark, Hartville, Fair Grove, Clever and Mountain Grove.
"The nice thing about battling the injury bug that we battled in December is that it forced kids out to the floor and it forced us into some adversity," Cope said. "We didn't shy away from it, and if you're going to run from the first bit of adversity that you have, you're never going to accomplish anything.
"In a backwards way, it has helped us lay the groundwork … a tough schedule prepares you for a tough district, and I think we have a tough district ahead of us."
Conway and Strafford opened the season by squaring off in the championship game of the Strafford Tournament all the way back on Dec. 5. The Bears won that game 64-56, but a few weeks later, Strafford defeated Conway, 64-47.
The two rivals could meet again in the district tournament as both are a part of the Missouri Class 3 District 11 field.
"The first two times we played them, we were without Chris (Vavruska), not that that matters a whole lot," Cope said. "But I think it shifts things to the middle and it will come down to which team comes out and gets their game plan down and executes.
"But I really like our chances."
High school boys' basketball
CONWAY 79, CABOOL 42
on Thursday, at Conway
Cabool 8 11 15 8 — 34
Conway 23 18 30 8 — 71
Cabool (14-5) — Jonathan Smith 3, Colton Hensley 5, Bailey Williams 2, Duncan Green 2, Dylan Medley 5, Tanner Barnes 20, Logan Stillwell 2, Caleb Manning 3.
Conway (10-6) — Andrew Huckaby 33, Austin Chastain 9, Jonathan Lucas 4, Chris Vavruska 10, Cody Delcour 7, R.C. Shockley 5, Gunnar Berger 7, Tayler Simpson 2.
Strafford 80, Stoutland 29
The Strafford Indians ran away with Thursday's other semifinal game against Stoutland, defeating the Tigers, 80-29.
The Indians scored 31 points in the first quarter and 25 more in the second and built a 56-21 lead at the half.
Five players finished in double figures for Strafford, led by junior Wyatt Cogdill's 17 points. Tristan Losh and Chanler Collins each added 13, Wyatt Eubanks scored 12, Samuel Morton finished with 10 and Tyler Winburn added nine.
"They're not as bad as they played tonight — our strengths matched up with their weaknesses and stuff like that happens," Strafford head coach Mike Wilson said.
Much like Conway, the Strafford Indians are on a mid-season roll after some early season struggles. They has won six straight, dating all the way back to the Blue and Gold where the Indians lost consecutive games to Ozark and Fair Grove.
Strafford (11-5) graduated one of the area's largest senior classes last season and subsequently moved up a large crew of underclassmen to the varsity level this season. Wilson said it has taken his team some time to adjust to the varsity level.
"We started out playing decent, but we were very inconsistent," Wilson said. "We would play good for a while, then play really bad for a while. At the Blue and Gold, our bad spurts weren't quite as long as they had been.
"But since the Blue and Gold, we have played pretty well. The kids are slowing down and are seeing things. The varsity game is faster than the JV. A lot of them are seniors, but they played JV last year. The game is slowing down for them, and we are guarding better and rebounding better."
Strafford has won key games over Liberty, Marshfield and Crane since the Blue and Gold, and will next face the host Bears, a team they could see again in the postseason.
Stoutland was led by Jessie Hubbs' eight points, while Kane Mathews added seven. The Tigers will next face Cabool for third place at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
High school boys' basketball
STRAFFORD 80, STOUTLAND 29
on Thursday, at Conway
Stoutland 4 13 6 6 — 29
Strafford 31 25 12 12 — 80
Stoutland — Kane Mathews 7, Jake Pendergrass 2, Colton Shepherd 6, Braydon Allee 6, Jessie Hubbs 8.
Strafford — Wyatt Eubanks 12, Tristan Losh 13, Chanler Collins 13, Trevor Roebke 6, Tyler Winburn 10, Wyatt Cogdill 17.
