Coach Eric Stallman's veteran team roared out to a huge lead and then coasted home, although the score didn't end up being an indication of how much of a blowout this win was.

Christopher moved into the semifinals set for Tuesday with a 57-43 win over Marissa-Coulterville to improve to 10-1 on the season.

The key element of the contest turned out to be the defensive end of the floor for the Bearcats as they forced the Meteors into a mistake filled afternoon, at least in the first 24-minutes of play.

Coach Scott Wine's club committed 18-turnovers, 13 of which occurred in the first two quarters where they had nearly as many miscues as they had points (14) at intermission.

Offensively, the Bearcats were balanced with a pair of players netting double-digits.

Kaeleb Pedigo, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, netted 13-points for Christopher while teammate Isaac McPhail added 11.

Six-foot-three senior Josh Calloni added seven while senior point guard Hunter Wheeler added six.

Kyle Smith, a 5-foot-7 point guard for Marissa-Coulterville, topped all scorers with 21-points, with most of them coming in the second half after the game was settled.

The Bearcats defensive effort not only turned the ball over but they kept Smith in check with just five first quarter points and none in the second stanza as Christopher sprinted out to a 37-14 lead at the break.

“We had a great start to the game and we defended well early,” said Coach Stallman. “We held Smith to five points in the first half and he just didn't get many good looks. He's a really good player and he can shoot it from everywhere.”

After a Smith 3-pointer gave M-C its only lead of the game at 3-2 in the first minute, Christopher went on a 12-4 move to close the quarter up 14-7.

Three of the scores for the Bearcats were transition baskets off of steals as the Meteors committed five of their turnovers in the early going.

Pedigo, McPhail and Calloni each scored with Calloni and Pedigo both converting three-point plays while being fouled.

Junior guard Gabe Schimpf got in on the fun with a steal and fast break lay in to close the first quarter scoring.

If Coach Wine thought things were bad in the first quarter, they got considerably worse in the second frame.

A 14-2 run to begin the quarter by Christopher not only gave the number-two seed a bigger lead but it helped put the Meteors in foul trouble.

Six-foot-three sophomore Bradley Young helped the Bearcats with four early points and his bucket and two free throws along with a scored in transition by Pedigo pushed the lead to 23-9 with 5:11 left.

Wheeler drove the lane and dished to Pedigo for a 3-point bomb and Wheeler followed that up with a score of his own and the lead had ballooned to 28-9.

Reserves Jared Curry and Luke Winget each got in on the scoring fun with baskets late in the second quarter.

By the time Wheeler added another basket on a drive and spin move in the lane, the 'Cats were in charge at 37-14 at popcorn time.

“Whenever you are a higher seeded team, you need to come out and do the right things early,” added Coach Stallman. “We got a lot of rebounds and run outs but we did a pretty good job in our half-court offense.”

Following a bucket from Smith to open the second half scoring, Christopher pushed its lead to the max.

Nine-consecutive points, five free throws and a pair of scores inside on offensive rebounds by Calloni and Young gave the Bearcats their biggest scoring spread, 46-16 with 3:31 remaining.

At this point, Coach Stallman's club had a bit of a let down or let up.

Marissa-Coulterville went to a zone as they were in foul trouble and the Bearcats didn't do a good job attacking the zone in the fourth quarter.

This allowed the Meteors to make the final score much more presentable.

Smith and teammate Tony Stoddard got going on the offensive end, each netting scores.

Stoddard drained a pair of 3-pointers as M-C closed the gap to 51-27 at the third quarter horn.

Christopher committed a sloppy seven turnovers in the fourth quarter and Smith tossed in three 3-pointers as the lead shrunk to just 14-points at the final horn.

The tale of the tape told a different tale of what the final score indicated.

Christopher finished 18-of-41 overall (43.9 percent) with most of the misses coming from long range (3-of-11) and they ended up out-boarding the Meteors 28-17.

Marissa-Coulterville (4-6) finished 16-of-38 (42.1 percent) but 13-first half turnovers doomed the seventh seed.

Christopher advanced to the semifinals where they will face Black Diamond Conference foe Goreville, a 76-71 winner over Vienna in the first quarterfinal of the day at Sesser-Valier.

“They (Christopher) took us out of everything in the first half. We are not used to seeing that kind of pressure. On the other hand we battled back and we haven't practiced five minutes on a zone this year but we had to go to it. I told the boys at least we didn't go down without a fight,” said Coach Wine.

Senior Brett Harris and classmate Garrett Minks added 13 and 10 respectively in the rout.

Woodlawn pulled away in the second half. After leading 31-21 at the break, the Cards outscored Cobden 22-10 in the third quarter to put the outcome to rest.