BOLIVAR - It's not easy stopping the Blair Oaks Falcons from scoring with their height advantage.
But in Saturday night's Class 3 quarterfinal game against Fair Grove, the Falcons showed they're more than just tall.
"I think we've improved well enough as a shooting team that it's going to be hard to guard us either way," said Blair Oaks senior Eric Northweather, a 6-foot-9 post player.
Well, at least it worked Saturday. Quinn Kusgen made four early 3-pointers and Northweather was perfect from outside as they led the Falcons to their first state semifinal appearance since winning the Class 2 title in 2001 with a 57-50 defeat of the Fair Grove Eagles at Southwest Baptist.
"I give these guys a lot of credit," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "They came together as a team, they really started to trust each other and the chemistry was amazing."
Blair Oaks (28-2), winners of 20 straight games, will be matched up against second-ranked Cardinal Ritter (23-6) on Friday night in the Class 3 semifinals. Cardinal Ritter defeated O'Fallon Christian 67-54 in its quarterfinal in St. Louis.
The top-ranked Falcons had been waiting for this quarterfinal game since last season ended in the same place, and they proved they were ready for a second chance.
Kusgen, a sophomore, had all four of his makes from long range come in the first 11 minutes of the game.
His third 3 accounted for the final points of the opening quarter as Blair Oaks took a 13-5 lead.
Kusgen added another 3 a couple minutes into the second quarter when he pulled up for an open look.
"I was pretty deep but they were in a zone, and if I'm going to be open, I'm going to shoot it," Kusgen, who scored a game-high 27 points, said. "Luckily it fell tonight."
Northweather also found his stroke early with two second-quarter 3s to help build a 32-12 halftime lead against Fair Grove, which ends its season at 22-8.
Northweather made all three of his 3-point attempts on his way to 14 points. He was 1-of-3 on 2-point shots.
"I think they thought our post game would hurt them more," Fick said. "I think they just thought, hey, they're going to have to beat us from the perimeter and we did."
Dylan Hair, a freshman, got his lone shot attempt to drop in the closing seconds of the first half, bouncing in a corner 3.
Hair also contributed to closing out the game with a pair free throws in the final minute.
"He showed a lot of composure," Fick said. "Knocked down two free throws, handled the ball, played good defense. It's special when you see guys accept their roles."
The 3 was set up by point guard Jake Closser, who drove the middle of the lane before passing it out to Hair for the open look.
"It shows trust," Fick said. "He's been in pressure situations on the football field and he just caught that and shot it with complete confidence."
Blair Oaks was in control through three quarters, leading 41-18.
But Fair Grove chipped away by forcing turnovers and testing the Falcons' composure.
Cole Gilpin, who led Fair Grove with 20 points, got the margin down to eight at 54-46 with :40.2 left by making two free throws.
It got as close as 55-48 with less than 20 seconds remaining before Kusgen made 2-of-3 free throws the rest of the way.
Both teams had a player get called with a technical foul down the stretch.
"We just lost our composure a little bit," Fick said. "We made enough plays down the stretch. We'll learn from that."
Fair Grove's David Oplotnik, a 6-6 guard, was limited to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting, with Northweather getting that defensive assignment.
"I worked a whole lot this offseason playing against Luke (Northweather) one-on-one, playing against Quinn, playing against my teammates from Mid-Mo Elite," Eric Northweather said. "It's really paid off. Guarding their best player has been really tough, but I've enjoyed it."
His next test comes at 8:10 p.m. Friday at JQH Arena in Springfield.