WARDSVILLE, Mo. - It didn't take long to know it wasn't going to be the Blair Oaks Falcons' night.
Southern Boone led by 14 less than 10 minutes into Saturday night's Class 3 District 9 Tournament championship game and didn't let Blair Oaks take the lead once in a 67-54 win.
A 9-0 run in the middle of the second quarter got the Falcons within four and helped keep the halftime deficit to single digits.
The Eagles got their lead to as many as 17 in the second half and Blair Oaks' longest run in the final 16 minutes was 4-0.
"I think we ran into a buzzsaw tonight," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "They executed a great game plan, they really spread us out defensively, got going downhill with the dribble and just had us back on our heels defensively pretty much the entire night."
Both teams entered the game ranked by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, with Southern Boone at No. 2 and Blair Oaks at No. 8.
The Eagles and Falcons split their two matchups earlier this season, with Blair Oaks winning by 13 at home and Southern Boone taking the Tri-County Conference Tournament championship with a one-point victory.
The Falcons got down early in the tournament matchup and nearly completed the comeback, but the Falcons' couldn't get a run going Saturday as Southern Boone shut down their inside game and the 3-pointers didn't fall.
Jason Rackers, who scored a combined 48 points in the first two games against Southern Boone, was limited to 10 points Saturday.
The 6-foot-6 big man was 5-of-6 from the field, but trying to feed him the ball inside seemed to only cause more problems for Blair Oaks.
"They really made it difficult for us to get the ball to Jason, and we figured they would," Fick said. "I thought at times we got stagnant offensively trying to get him the ball. We were looking at him trying to make passes a lot and they anticipated well and got deflections and steals."
Thomas Verslues became the Falcons' main threat on offense as he scored a team-high 23 points, his second straight 20-point game.
Verslues hit a 3 with 1:53 left before halftime to get Blair Oaks within five.
"He had a nice tournament," Fick said. "Like I said all along at this time of year the seniors really start to play with a sense of urgency because they realize the end is in sight, and they don't want it to be over. He did a good job tonight. Overall as a team things didn't go our way."
Only five Falcons scored Saturday, four of them seniors.
Dylan Skinner scored 10 points and Tim Fick, the only non-senior in the starting lineup, finished with seven points.
At the other end, Southern Boone's Sam Stichnote took over, recording a double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds. He made 9-of-13 at the free-throw line with the rest of the Eagles combining for a 10-of-18 clip at the line.
"We spent a lot of time chasing defensively and they were so patient offensively that they just waited for the right opportunity to attack and spent a lot of time around the rim," Fick said. "They hit enough 3s that we had to close out and keep us honest around the perimeter and then they attacked and broke us down."
Southern Boone made 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, with all four makes coming in the first 10 minutes of the game to make it 23-9.
Blair Oaks also made four 3s Saturday, but took 10 more attempts than Southern Boone.
The Eagles also had a 34-27 edge in rebounding.
"They crash very well and they rebound very well," Fick said. "When they execute the dribble drive the way they were and we've got guys helping and their kicking, it gets our guys in a bad position defensively and makes it difficult to rebound because we've got to scramble to find guys to check out."
The district championship is the first for Southern Boone since 2013. The Eagles advance to play fourth-ranked Mountain Grove in sectionals Tuesday.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they continued to play for a couple more weeks," Fick said.
The Falcons end the season with a 23-5 record, the most wins they've had since finishing with 25 in 2011. Blair Oaks made it to the quarterfinals that season.
"It was a good season," Fick said. "These seniors, they are disappointed right now obviously. But they are going to look back on this season and I think they are going to be proud of what they accomplished."