Dartanus White scored 12 of his game high 24 points in the final 3:39 of the game to lead Sparta past Sesser-Valier 52-44 to advance to the championship game of the 29th annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

Sesser-Valier loss was its first of the season and the only major upset of the tournament as the host school was the top seed in the tournament.

Sparta’s defense forced the Red Devils into 20 turnovers, while its offense found enough points to seal the win late in-front of a hostile crowd.

“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” said Sparta coach Rich Williams. “With the style we play and because we are undersized, we have to be able to guard people. This team has experience pulling out close games and they are confident down the stretch. Dartanus is an exciting player and when he takes the ball to the hoop, he is hard to guard. We thought we had a mismatch with him down low and it worked out for us tonight. Sesser-Valier has a quality program and I am glad to be able to pull this victory out. My coaching staff has done a tremendous job scouting for this tournament and the fan support has been great, the kids really appreciate it.”

Sparta’s quick defense set the tone for the game early on forcing Sesser-Valier into five turnovers in the opening quarter.

The turnovers led to the Bulldogs scoring four points in transition as they claimed a 9-6 first quarter lead.

While Sparta’s defense started the game off quickly, its shooting struggled early making just 4-of-13 shots in the opening frame.

The Dawgs held a seven-point lead for most of the second quarter, but their shooting remained cold, making just 6-of-17 shots as Sesser-Valier nailed a three-point shot late in the quarter to cut Sparta’s advantage to 21-17 at the intermission.

Sesser-Valier made its move in the third quarter behind star 6’5 post player Justin Matyi. Matyi scored 10 points in the third as the Red Devils outscored Sparta 13-8 to capture a 30-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

White scored six points in the third to keep Sparta within striking distance as the Bulldogs’ outside shooting failed to heat up. The team made just 4-of-14 shots in the period, Sesser-Valier was 6-of-10.

Williams rallied the troops in the fourth and the Dawgs responded. Maurice Austin got the offense started by making 3-of-5 free throws to tie the game up at 32-32. The huge offensive spark came from David Sams on the next possession as he buried a three-point shot to give Sparta the lead for good.

The rest of the game came down to free throws for Sparta. The Bulldogs made 18-of-24 from the foul line in the fourth including 10-of-13 from White down the stretch.

Behind White’s 24 points, Blake Shelton and London Oliver each added seven points for Sparta.

Matyi finished with 24 points to lead Sesser-Valier.

With the win, Sparta improved to 10-3 on the season, two games more than the team won last year, and advanced to face Waltonville Wednesday night in the tournament championship.

A disastrous third quarter in which New Athens outscored Marissa-Coulterville 13-2 proved to be the difference in the contest as the Yellowjackets held off the Meteors for a 56-45 victory in the fifth place bracket of the tournament Tuesday evening.

New Athens, the tournament’s fifth seed, got off to a quick start against its rivals, scoring the game’s first six points as.

After missing their first six shots of the game, the Meteors immediately answered with a 7-0 scoring run as they made 5-of-8 shots from the field during the rest of the quarter.

The lead wouldn’t last for long as New Athens finished the quarter with an 8-5 run for a 14-12 advantage.

Joey Martin had seven points in the opening frame for Marissa-Coulterville, but the Meteors didn’t have an answer for New Athens’ Tyler Womack, who tossed in nine points in the first quarter.

Cody Mahan hit two big three-pointers for Marissa in the second quarter including one that gave his team a one-point lead with 6:45 to play in the half.

Vince Kiefer had a quiet first quarter for New Athens, but that all changed in the second as he posted nine points and helped his team end the first half with a 10-4 run to claim a 31-24 advantage.

The Yellowjackets took total control of the game in the third outscoring the Meteors 12-3 for a 43-27 lead.

Marissa-Coulterville was just 1-of-13 from the field in the third with four turnovers as the game got away.

The Meteors outscored New Athens 18-13 in the fourth and cut the deficit to 10 points on two separate occasions, but that would be as close as they would come.

Mahan finished with 12 points to lead Marissa-Coulterville, while Joey Smith added nine and Mike Lloyd had eight.

Kiefer finished with a game high 18 points, while Cody Gaubatz had 16 and Womack added 13 in the win.

Chester’s hopes for a consolation championship were dashed Tuesday evening with an 89-63 loss to Century in the consolation semifinals.

The Yellow Jackets led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter, but Century exploded to outscore Chester 34-16 in the second for a 51-34 advantage.

Century put the game away in the second half outscoring the Jackets 21-20 in the third and 17-9 in the fourth for the 26-point win.

Zach Lochhead led Chester with 14 points, while Jeremy Woodward added 11.

With the loss, Chester finished tournament play with a 1-2 record and dropped to 3-8 overall.