CHERRY TWP - The visitors were from East Forest, but the hosts had the trees.

Moniteau's Matt Schandelmeier and Matt Buczkowski controlled play inside Wednesday night and led the Warriors boys basketball team to a 97-72 triumph over the Bears.

"They had no answer for us in the paint," Moniteau coach Randy Armagost said.

Schandelmeier, a 6-foot-3 junior, had a career-high 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while 6-3 sophomore Buczkowski contributed 19 points and eight boards off the bench.

East Forest had one player in the game taller than 5-11 - 6-1 senior forward Jake Shaffer.

Buczkowski didn't play Monday night at Union - the game East Forest coach Jerry Thornton scouted - because of the flu. He didn't even make the trip to that game.

And he caught the Bears (5-14, 1-8) by surprise.

"We knew about Schandelmeier, but we didn't know anything about that other kid," Thornton said. "I don't even know who he is.

"We're a small team and we like to get up and down the floor. But you have to stop the other team from scoring for that to work."

After sinking just five of 21 shots in the first quarter, the Warriors (8-13, 6-4) canned 37-of-61 the rest of the way, scoring 85 points in the final three quarters.

Six Moniteau players scored in double figures and the 97 points marked the Warriors' season-high. The previous high was 90 Jan. 10 at Portersville Christian.

East Forest had allowed more than 80 points in a game only twice all year, including a season-worst 83 Dec. 8 at Abraxas.

"We had some breakdowns defensively tonight, but in a fast-paced game like this, when the ball is constantly moving, it's hard to get in position defensively," Armagost said.

The lead changed hands 10 times in the first half and the Warriors led 40-35 at intermission.

Moniteau's Zack Thompson sank an eight-footer and Buczkowski stuck back a pair of offensive rebounds in the first minute of the third quarter as the lead ballooned to 46-35.

East Forest never threatened again. The final 25-point spread was Moniteau's biggest lead of the night.

Schandelmeier had eight offensive rebounds and stick-backs in the contest.

"When you get a couple of those early, you get excited," Schandelmeier said. "You're never sure how a game's gonna go, but we could tell early they couldn't stop us underneath."

Greg Madru had 15 points and six rebounds for the Warriors after not seeing action Monday at Union.

"He's another kid we didn't expect much from and those 3-pointers by No. 24 (Garth Kohlmeyer) came out of nowhere," Thornton said.

Tyler Grossman had 14 points and seven boards while Kohlmeyer had 12 points. Grossman was presented with the game ball from Monday's Union game in a pre-game ceremony. He scored his 1,000th career point Monday.

Moniteau enjoyed a 51-35 edge in rebounding. Both teams had nine turnovers.

James Meloney had 25 points and eight rebounds while Bob Snyder added 18 points for East Forest.

The win was the eighth in 11 games for Moniteau since its 0-10 start.

"We may be one of the best teams around in Class AA and we may be staying home from the playoffs," Armagost said. "The best we can finish is 11-13 and school policy is you have to have a winning record to go. We'll see what happens."

EAST FOREST 72

James Meloney 10-21 4-4 25, Bob Snyder 7-23 1-2 18, Keith Brandon 5-10 0-0 10, John Rini 3-7 0-0 7, Jake Shaffer 5-8 1-3 11, Jared Courter 0-1 1-2 1, Corey Snyder 0-1 0-1 0. Totals: 30-71 7-11 72

MONITEAU 97

Tyler Grossman 7-21 0-0 14, Matt Schandelmeier 10-12 2-5 22, Zack Thompson 4-12 2-3 10, Adam Cousins 0-0 0-0 0, Garth Kohlmeyer 4-8 0-0 12, Nick Morrow 1-3 0-0 3, Josh Warburton 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Buczkowski 8-12 3-5 19, Barry Jones 1-1 0-0 2, David Rumbaugh 0-1 0-0 0, Greg Madru 7-11 1-2 15. Totals: 42-82 8-15 97

3-point goals:

Meloney, B. Snyder 3, Rini; Kohlmeyer 4, Morrow

JV:

Moniteau, 54-26 (M-Cousins 12)

Friday:

Keystone @ Moniteau