Monroe City’s cushion withstands Canton’s late barrage with spot in Lenzini Tournament title game at stake

PALMYRA, Mo. — Canton boys basketball coach Dalton Armontrout looked at the post-game numbers and shrugged his shoulders.

“Too little, too late, I guess,” he said, trying to analyze what had just unfolded in the semifinals of the 82nd Tony Lenzini Tournament at Palmyra High School.

No argument with that assessment.

Monroe City held off a late Canton charge for a 75-73 victory that puts the Panthers in the tournament finals at 8 p.m. Saturday against host Palmyra.

The final two-point margin was a bit misleading in that Monroe City (11-2) led by as many as 11 points midway through the fourth quarter. The Panthers enjoyed a comfortable spread for most of the period, except for the closing 1 1/2 minutes when a barrage of late 3-point field goals from Canton (12-4) tightened the final verdict.

Monroe City, which last won the Lenzini title in 2022, was able to utilize the play of an effective backcourt, made a living at the line in the final period and contained Canton’s 6-foot-8 Preston Brewer for the majority of the game.

Monroe City senior guard Marty Smyser scored 21 points and junior guard Quincy Mayfield added 16, while the duo combined for six of their team’s 11 3-pointers.

Smyser was 11 of 13 at the foul line, and at one point in the fourth quarter swished eight straight. Mayfield scored 13 of his points in the second half, fueled by three 3-pointers that helped maintain Monroe City’s second-half momentum.

“I’m more of a slasher, but if I’m open (for a 3-pointer) I’m going to take it,” Mayfield said.

Brewer, who earlier in the week scored 40 points (one shy of the school record) in Canton’s 69-47 quarterfinal win over Brookfield, never got untracked until the closing minutes of the game. Brewer finished with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds, but scored nine of those points in the closing two minutes on three 3-pointers.

“Brewer demands a lot of respect, and rightly so,” Monroe City coach Brock Edris said. “We used a lot of pressure to try and keep the ball out his hands.”

Armontrout felt his club did not get the response it needed from some of its other players.

“We have other guys who can make shots, but they just didn’t take them,” Armontrout said. “In the first half, I think we were probably looking too much for Preston, and he was getting double-teamed. He hit some big shots late in the game, but like I said, it was too little too late. He also played much of the fourth quarter with four fouls.”

Mayfield praised Monroe City’s defense for its work in containing Brewer.

“Brewer’s really good, but I felt we did a good job against him,” said the 5-foot-9 Monroe City guard. “We have a lot of good role players who stepped up (on defense).”

Brent Holland, a 6-foot-4 junior, contributed 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds for Monroe City, which led 27-25 at halftime and 43-49 after three quarters. The two schools combined for 96 points in the second half and wound up making a combined 23 3-point field goals and shooting 59 free throws.

Kaden Oliver (16) and Tyler Frazier (13) combined for an additional 29 points for Canton.

And now for Monroe City, it’s on to the championship game against Palmyra (14-2), a fellow member of the Clarence Cannon Conference that toppled Van-Far in the tourney semifinals 69-39.

“Obviously, Palmyra and us know each other very well, and they may be coming off their best overall game of the year,” said Edris, whose team bounced Clark County 55-53 in the quarterfinals.

Meeting in a championship game is nothing new this year for Monroe City and Palmyra. Monroe City defeated Palmyra 51-47 in the finals of the 100th Monroe City Tournament in December. That victory ended a five-game losing streak to Palmyra.