March 9, 2024

By Fred Liggett
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The first season for RJ Newton as head boys basketball coach at St. Michael’s continues as the Guardians find themselves just a step away from the Class 4 Final Four in Columbia, MO.

The Final Four is set for the weekend of March 15-16 and the Guardians are one win away from advancing to the big stage. To get there the Guardians will have to get past KC Central in a quarterfinal round game set to be played on Saturday, Mar. 9. The Central Blue Eagles enter at 22-6. The Guardians with a win would claim a 20 win season as they hold a 19-10 record at the moment.

The Guardians got to this point thanks to a 52-34 win over Barstow in a Class 4 sectional round game that was played on Tuesday, Mar. 5. The game between St. Michael’s and Barstow was originally scheduled to be played at Barstow but the game was moved to due to attendance figures expected to exceed Barstow’s gym. The two teams agreed to move the playoff game to Van Horn High School in Independence.

No matter where the Guardians play they seem to do just fine as that was on display at the recent district tournament played in Pleasant Hill. The Guardians won the Class 4, District 13 title after going 2-0 in the week long tournament. The championship game against Nevada was played on Saturday, Mar. 2. St. Michael’s was led by Phil Howard’s 23 points, junior Nick DeVoss had 13 and also in double figures was sophomore Mikey Weiss with 10.

After winning a district title game with an 11:30 a.m. tip off and a sectional game that began at 7 p.m., the Guardians will now play KC Central at 5 p.m. Not only a different start time for the Guardians for this quarterfinal round game, but a different site as well. The road show continues for the Guardians with this game set for Central High School in Kansas City. As long as the outcome stays the same the Guardians will be headed down the road to Columbia, Missouri.