ENGLAND 81, EARLE 67

England (28-5) dominated play inside as the Lions advanced to the state championship game with an easy victory over Earle (27-8).

Brandon Thompson had 23 points — including five dunks — and 14 rebounds, Tyrik Harris added 21 points and Monte Toney scored 19 as England built a large lead in the second half and didn’t let up.

“I don’t think anyone gave us much of chance from the get-go because we’ve squeaked by a lot of teams,” England Coach Tyler Scott said. “Everybody was talking about how much Earle would win by, and our guys had that chip on their shoulders. They weren’t going to take a loss.”

Earle kept pace for most of the first and second quarters with Elisha Dunn scoring inside, a three-pointer by Marcus Brown and a three-point play from B.J. Murray, but Thompson scored eight points in a 13-2 run over the last five minutes of the second quarter as England built its lead to 37-26.

Thompson had another dunk early in the third quarter as England opened the second half with a 7-2 scoring run that led to a 15-point lead. Earle fought back and pulled to within 48-39 on Murray’s three-pointer, but England kept it going into the paint and Harris’ three-point play gave the Lions a 59-45 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Murray led Earle with 22 points.

JUNCTION CITY 56, BUFFALO ISLAND CENTRAL 53

Junction City (31-1) hit its first nine shots and 10 of its first 13 to race out to a 23-15 lead against BIC, but it was the defense and free-throw shooting of Jamario Bell that secured a victory and sent the Dragons into the state title game.

With the game tied at 53-53, Bell drove the length of the court for a layup and then took a charge on the defensive end that fouled out Austin Pike, BIC’s leading scorer who had a game-high 33 points. Seconds later, Bell made the game-winning free throw.

Junction City had a 38-25 halftime lead, but Pike scored 12 points in the third quarter — including a three-pointer, a three-point play and the final two baskets— to pull BIC within 44-43.

Bell led Junction City with 16 points and Randall Holyfield scored 15 points, eight in the second quarter.