Canton boys end sectional jinx, power past Clopton to reach Class 2 state quarterfinals

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — Two seasons in a row, the Canton boys basketball team had reached the Missouri Class 2 sectional, and both times the final buzzer sounded the end to its season.

This time, the Tigers got to celebrate.

Canton scored the game’s opening 10 points and built a 20-point lead by the end of the first quarter Monday night to coast to a 69-37 victory over Clopton in Dale Miller Gymnasium.

The win avenged a sectional-round loss to the Hawks in 2023. Now, the Tigers, ranked 10th in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association poll, will host No. 6 Harrisburg on Friday night in the quarterfinals, with a trip to Mizzou Arena and a state tournament trophy awaiting the winner.

Harrisburg, which rolled to a 78-44 win over Slater on Monday night, eliminated a 21-win Canton team in the sectional a year ago.

On this night, however, the Tigers were relishing an opportunity to keep playing.

“For us, it was a hump we needed to get over,” said senior forward Bleu Taylor, who scored eight of his 12 points during the first-quarter blitz. “Getting to state has been our goal all year, and now we’re pumped and ready to keep rolling.”

Canton outlasted Clopton 86-78 in an offensive shootout on Dec. 10, but a sequel never materialized.

The Tigers hounded the Hawks into seven early turnovers, dominated both the offensive and defensive boards, and turned miscues and missed shots into six transition baskets in the opening eight minutes alone.

When Preston Brewer sank a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with seconds left in the first quarter, Canton held a commanding 25-5 lead that left the home crowd stunned.

It wasn’t just what the Tigers did, but how they did it. They’re not normally a team that races the ball up the court with the fast pace they displayed Monday night.

“We’re usually more of a slow-paced team,” Canton coach Dalton Armontrout said. “We saw in a film where they all crash, so we knew if we got the rebound, we were going to go, and we got layups out of it.

“You know, losing twice like we did, it hurts. But I thought the guys came in ready to go and jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.”

Canton stretched its lead to 31-5 before Adam Lindsay got Clopton on the board with a 3-pointer four minutes into the second quarter. The Hawks misfired on 13 of their first 15 field goal attempts before rallying to get within 39-22 at the half.

The margin was still 17 entering the fourth period, only for the Tigers to pitch a shutout to win their sixth straight — and 11th in 12 games — to improve to 23-5.

“Being here the last two years, we had the experience and knew what it felt like,” Canton forward Preston Brewer said. “That fast start really, really, really helped us.”

Both teams shot 40 percent from 3-point range in their first meeting, but neither could find that groove Monday night, combining to make just 5 of 31 from beyond the arc.

The difference was Canton made 26 of 42 attempts from two-point range, all of them coming inside the paint on either drives to the basket, back door cuts that resulted in layups or rebound putbacks.

Clopton never came up with any answers defensively.

“We executed,” Armontrout said. “We got layups, we took good shots, we shared the ball. We did everything we had to do to win this game.”

Brewer, the 6-foot-8 Quincy University commit, scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the decisive first half. Tyler Frazier finished with 14 points, Taylor 12 and Drew Gottman 11 for the Tigers.

Clopton’s Kain Eivins, a 6-foot-3 senior who entered shooting 70 percent from the field and averaging 18.5 points per game, was held largely in check by Canton’s taller front line. He scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the third quarter with the game out of reach.

The Hawks bow out at 18-10.

Canton will be making its first quarterfinal appearance since back-to-back trips in 2014 and 2015, when it finished third and fourth in the Class 2 state tournament, respectively.

Harrisburg sports a 24-5 record after its 11th win in 12 games. The Bulldogs have won the three previous state tournament meetings with the Tigers, including the 53-38 decision in last year’s sectional.

Brewer believes he knows what it will take to win and advance.

“Play the same way we did (Monday night),” he said. “It’s plain and simple. If we play like we did, we should be doing pretty good.”