CARTERVILLE — After crowning regional champions Friday and Saturday, it’s on to sectionals this week for boys basketball. The first semifinal at the Carterville 2A Sectional featured the Breese Central Cougars and the Massac County Patriots. Led by Brady Moore’s 22 points, the Cougars are headed to the Sweet 16 for the 10th time in the past two decades, thanks to a 59-24 win.

For the Cougars, Moore started the game off with a three-pointer. That led to a 10-7 Breese Central lead at the end of the first quarter.

The game remained close for a while in the second quarter with Ian Higgerson of Massac County hitting a layup to bring the Patriots back within five points. Higgerson finished with a team-high eight points.

The Cougars dominated the rest of the quarter. A fastbreak layup by Moore got the run started. Later in the quarter, Dalton Boruff hit a floater that would make it a 20-point lead. Luke Strubhart capped the Cougars’ 24-3 run with an alley-oop slam giving Breese Central a 35-14 lead at halftime.

The Cougars started the third quarter with another run, scoring 9 of the first 11 points. The run featured similar highlights, including Strubhart with a posterizing dunk over Higgerson. Later, at the 4:15 mark, Brady Cissell of Massac County would stop the run with his jumper. A few plays later Strubhart added a three-point play and finished with 14 points on the night. Breese Central built a 53-20 lead after three quarters, causing the continuous clock to run in the fourth quarter..

With the win, the Cougars improve to 29-5, and they’ll play either Nashville or Murphysboro Friday night for the sectional championship. The Hornets and Red Devils will face each other in the second semifinal Wednesday night at Carterville.

The Patriots finished the season 21-12.