CHERRY TWP — Randy Armagost must have felt like it was a bad case of deja vu.

Fortunately for the Moniteau boys basketball coach, it lasted only one quarter.

In the Warriors' first meeting with Rocky Grove on Dec. 8, the Orioles offense was in the zone all night long.

"They shot 62 percent and they beat us (71-56)," Armagost said.

Wednesday's rematch appeared to have the makings of a sequel, with Rocky Grove shooting 8-of-14 from the field (57 percent) in the opening quarter.

The Orioles scored 18 points in the first period, but they managed only 27 the rest of the game in Moniteau's 52-45 home victory.

"We started off well tonight," said Orioles coach Steve Cutchall. "But after that, we just didn't make shots we're used to making."

Rocky Grove (14-5, 9-5) has scored at least 70 points in six games this year but found itself down 46-43 with 1:35 remaining.

After Moniteau received free throws from Nick Morrow and Tyler Armagost, the Orioles cut their deficit to 48-45 with two points at the line from Matt Hadden with 31.4 seconds to play.

But they were the last points the visitors scored.

Morrow added two free throws for a two-possession edge and the Warriors (9-9, 8-5) went on to grab their fifth straight win.

"Right now, we're coming together as a team, and that's what you want at this time of the season," said Armagost, who notched his 100th career win at Moniteau.

Tim Kearns spearheaded the Orioles' fast start, scoring 11 points in the first quarter. But he, like the rest of his teammates, cooled off and he tallied only seven points in the final 24 minutes.

"We have four guys who average double figures in points, but Cruz Mietus is our leading scorer at 14.5 points per game," said Cutchall. "He was one of the guys tonight who didn't make the shots."

Mietus scored only nine.

One player who did make shots — and a lot of them — was Moniteau junior forward Josh Loos, who scored a game-high 21 points and added 13 rebounds. Armagost added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Warriors outrebounded Rocky Grove 39-26.

"The first game, there weren't many rebounds to get with the way they were shooting," said Armagost. "And the shots that didn't fall, they were being shot from 20 feet and the rebounds were 10 feet from the basket. That makes it tough."

ROCKY GROVE 45Sam Saeli 2 0-0 5, Tim Kearns 7 2-3 18, Andy Setzkorn 2 0-0 5, Cruz Mietus 3 2-2 9, Eddie McDonald 1 0-0 2, Matt Hadden 2 2-2 6, Nathan Bell 0 0-0 0, Aaron Luce 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 17 6-7 45.

MONITEAU 52Tyler Armagost 6 4-7 17, Nick Morrow 0 3-4 3, Adam Cousins 2 0-0 4, Josh Loos 9 3-5 21, Matt Buczkowski 3 1-2 7, Aaron Randall 0 0-0 0, Mitch Czech 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 20 11-18 52.

Rocky Grove 18 9 7 11—45Moniteau 14 13 13 12—523-point goals: Rocky Grove 5 (Kearns 2, Mietus, Setzkorn, Saeli); Moniteau (Armagost)

JV: Moniteau 51-46 (M- Czech 14 points)

Friday: Karns City at Moniteau

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