CHERRY TWP — Nothing was settled after 30 minutes of play in Moniteau's KSAC boys basketball showdown against A-C Valley Wednesday night.

The Warriors' Zach McCormick had just tied the game at 67-all with 2:47 left on the fourth-quarter clock.

The Falcons took control from that point on, however, ending the game on a 7-1 run to extend their conference winning streak to eight games with a 74-68 victory.

A-C Valley's Alex Logue, Reed Terwilliger and Matt Bartley each scored a basket down the stretch, while Moniteau turned the ball over on three straight possessions to seal its fate.

"You can't look at a turnover late in the game because there were a lot of those earlier on," said Moniteau coach Randy Armagost. "This game came down to desire. Who wants the ball? Who's going to take the big shot late in the game? Who's going to come up with the big defensive stop?

"A-C's kids were able to play a bit better than us late," he added.

There were a total of 12 lead changes in the fourth period, but the Falcons (12-1, 8-0), who had not trailed in the fourth quarter of a game in 25 days, found a way to score every time the Warriors forced the issue.

Junior forward Allan Eaton scored a pair of 3-pointers. The first put his team ahead 57-56 with 5:15 left and the second gave A-C Valley a 64-63 edge with 3:25 left.

"We did what we had to do," Eaton said. "Our plan was to take it inside and if nothing was there, kick it back out."

"Our kids were tougher mentally tonight than they have been in a while," said Falcons coach Jim Marron. "We knew we were going to get a game tonight. We always do at this place."

Eaton led all scorers with 24 points and had 10 rebounds and six blocked shots — even though he spent much of the third quarter on the bench with three personal fouls.

The Warriors' offense revolved around Kyle Armagost in the final two quarters.

The sophomore scored only two points in the first half, but he tallied 17 points in the final 16 minutes.

His 3-pointer with 4:01 left in the game handed the Warriors (5-7, 5-4) a 62-60 lead.

"We watched the tape from the first game (a 75-62 Falcons win Jan. 13), when they had Reed Terwilliger on Kyle," said Coach Armagost. "They did that again tonight, so early in the game, we were looking for Kyle to penetrate, dish and set screens. He did that well, too. James Shope and Zach Sloan both scored a good bit in the first half."

Shope netted 13 of his 15 points in the first half, while Sloan dropped 11 of his team-leading 21 points in the same span.

Blayne McGuirk added 18 points for the Falcons and Terwilliger scored 14.

A-C VALLEY 74Blayne McGuirk 7 2-3 18, Ryan Bartley 1 0-0 3, Matt Bartley 2 1-4 5, Logan Wetzel 1 0-0 2, Josh Austin 1 4-7 6, Reed Terwilliger 5 4-5 14, Allan Eaton 8 6-8 24, Alex Logue 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 26 17-27 74.

MONITEAU 68Kyle Armagost 6 6-9 19, Heath Lominski 0 2-2 2, Zach Sloan 7 7-9 21, James Shope 5 3-7 15, Zach McCormick 2 2-2 7, Jereme Loos 2 0-0 4, Andrew Armagost 0 0-0 0, Mike George 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 22 20-29 68.

A-C Valley 19 17 14 24—74Moniteau 17 14 17 20—683-point goals: A-C Valley 5 (Eaton 2, McGuirk 2, R. Bartley); Moniteau 4 (Shope 2, McCormick, K. Armagost).

Friday: Moniteau at Keystone; Karns City at A-C Valley