Boseman Takes Control in Monarchs’ 93-74 Win

Stais Boseman took it upon himself to energize his Morningside High teammates Thursday night, and the results were spectacular and successful.

Boseman took control of a close game with a series of thunderous dunks in the second quarter, leading the Monarchs to a 93-74 victory over Lemoore in a Division III regional semifinal.

With Boseman’s aerial show setting the tone at the end of the half, which ended with Morningside leading 42-36, the Monarchs came out of the locker room fired up. Creating turnovers with their relentless press, the Monarchs scored the first eight points of the third quarter on their way to a 20-4 run that put the game out of reach.

“I felt like I had to do something to get the crowd and our team into the game,” said Boseman, who had 11 rebounds and five assists to go with his game-high 23 points. “It felt good.”

Corey Saffold added 19 points and six rebounds for the Monarchs (23-6), who will play Estancia, a 55-51 winner over La Canada, Saturday at the Sports Arena. Morningside beat Estancia, 95-85, in overtime in the Southern Section Division III-AA title game on Saturday.

Lemoore, which is located outside of Fresno, finished at 22-8. Stan Arterberry scored 20 points to lead the Tigers.

Although Morningside seemed to be outplaying Lemoore in every phase of the game, the Monarchs’ biggest lead in the first half was only seven points.

But the second half began with a basket in the lane by Pauliasi Taulava, and the Monarchs were on their way to an eight-point spurt and, consequently, the regional final on Saturday.

“This is the best we’ve played all year,” Boseman said. “There’s nobody in the state that can beat us when we run like that.”

The Monarchs led by as much as 22 points late in the third quarter, but the Tigers made one last run when Boseman went out with his fourth foul with 6 minutes and 24 seconds left to play. A 12-3 run pulled the Tigers to within 79-69 with 3:35 to play.

Not coincidently, that’s when Boseman re-entered the game, and the Monarchs secured the victory by scoring 14 of the game’s last 19 points.