By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
For the first time in more than 30 years, the Benton boys basketball team is in the final four.
The Benton boys basketball team finished third place in 1992. Now, in 2025, they are back at state looking to bring home a championship.
Following the Cardinals narrow 36-32 win over Center, head coach Jared Boone says he knows how much this opportunity means for so many people.
"The southside, Benton High School, our fans that travel with us, the players, parents, past players, current players, my teammates from back in the day," Boone told reporters following the game. "I mean gosh it just means so much to, not only me, but a lot of people and I couldn't be more ecstatic to be able to deliver this to them."
For the first time ever, both the Benton boys and girls basketball teams will be competing for a state title, at the same time. The Lady Cardinals defeated Boonville 62-42 over the weekend.
Boone says having both teams down in Columbia at the same time will be awesome
"That's kind of been the talk here lately is to get boys and girls down there and just basically have the southside take over Columbia," Boone says. "That's exciting and I definitely want to see, I've been down there when they was down there so I know the fans show up and just being able to experience that."
Boone knows the energy having both teams can bring, after seeing Logan Rogersville do it in 2018
"Just seeing that atmosphere there and just it's like, oh man it would be cool if the southside could experience this," Boone explains.
Benton will do just that against that very team that did it in 2018, both taking on Logan Rogersville on Friday in Columbia. The boys tipping off at 4pm, and the girls at 8pm.
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