Ryan Roddy
Section618.com

CENTRALIA — The Centralia Orphans got 16 points from senior Davin Tabor and nine from senior Jeremy Dalton on their way to a 43-31 win over the Waterloo Bulldogs in the Boys 3A Regional semifinal held at Centralia High School.

The Orphans led throughout, but Waterloo (18-15) made things interesting in the third quarter. The Bulldogs outscored Centralia 13-8 thanks to freshman Alex Stell’s 10 points in the quarter to pull within 30-24 heading to the fourth quarter. Bulldogs senior guard Ty Lenhardt led all scorers with 17 in the loss for Waterloo.

The Orphans improve to 27-3 on the season. Centralia will play the Mt. Vernon Rams for a fourth time this season Friday night in the regional championship game at Trout Arena starting at 7:00 pm. Mt. Vernon held off Herrin 50-43 in the other semifinal.