Palmyra boys get engaged offensively to power past Monroe City for tournament championship

MONROE CITY, Mo. — Not bad for a club that took seven minutes to score its first points of the game.

The Palmyra boys basketball team remained unbeaten Saturday night, but the way the it went about it may have been a bit awkward. At least in the first quarter.

“We were just running rampant out there,” said Jonathan Edwards, a senior forward. “We just had to calm down and get back under control.”

Palmyra dominated Monroe City after that dreadful start, earning a 43-23 win in front of a packed house in the finals of the 99th Monroe City Tournament.

With a minute to play in the first quarter, Palmyra (5-0) found itself trailing 3-0 in a slow-paced start. Then the Palmyra offense finally kicked into second gear.

Palmyra rattled off 11 straight points and by halftime owned a 17-6 lead. After three quarters, the margin grew to 34-15. The final quarter was little more than an exhibition. 

Individually, Bear Bock (14) and Carson Hicks (12) combined for 26 points to outscore Monroe City (3-3) by themselves. Bock scored nine of his points in the second half, Hicks garnered eight of his in the first half.

“I was a little nervous with the way the game started, but things worked out,” Hicks said. “We knew defense was our strength.”

The tournament championship was Palmyra’s second straight and 28th overall. Palmyra won its first Monroe City title in 1940.

The Palmyra girls also won their second straight Monroe City title by defeating South Shelby 64-61 in Saturday’s early game.

The back-to-back championships for the Palmyra programs marked the first time in the history of the event, which dates to 1925, that the same school’s boys and girls teams simultaneously pulled off two straight titles.

Palmyra coach Brian Rea said the championship game played out much like he envisioned.

“I think we all felt this would be a defensive struggle,” said Rea, who added the style of game may have provided a good tune-up for Palmyra’s next contest — Tuesday night at Quincy Notre Dame. “It will be tough playing at The Pit, but Notre Dame does a lot of the same things Monroe City likes to do.”

Palmyra defeated QND a year ago 55-34.

Defense is always stressed first at Palmyra, according to Edwards.

“We love to have what we call lockdowns on defense,” the 6-foot-1 senior said. “Defense is always a big things for us. A lot of our offense comes from what we do on defense.”

Palmyra is surrendering only 32.2 points per game and has allowed just one opponent to score more than 40.

Palmyra also controlled the rebounding against Monroe City 28-21. Bock (9), Edwards (6) and Ryan McKinney (6) combined for 21 boards.

Waylon DeGrave (8) and Blake Pfanner (6) led Monroe City scoring. Brent Holland had four rebounds.