The top four seeds have all advanced in the 48th annual Chester Invitational Tournament after quarter final round action wrapped up Tuesday night.

Saxony Lutheran of Jackson, MO pounded Dongola 85-32 while Marissa-Coulterville snuck by Chester 50-49 in the night cap.

The defending CIT champs, the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders, wasted little time in disposing of Dongola 85-32.  The Crusaders raced out to a 29-8 lead after the first quarter and took a 52-13 lead to the locker room after outscoring the Demons 23-5 in the second quarter.

Saxony Lutheran outscored Dongola 18-10 in the third to take a 70-23 lead to the fourth quarter which was played under a continuous clock.

A quartet of Crusaders finished in double-digit scoring, led by an 18 point effort from Brayton Klaus.  Trent Steffens finished with 14 points, Trevor Mabuce finished with 13 while Nick LeGrand tossed in 10.

Dongola was led by eight points each from Tyler Eddleman and Tyler Thompson.

The most exciting game of the opening round of the tournament turned out to be the final quarterfinal round game.  The Marissa-Coulterville Meteors rallied from an early 12-point deficit and snuck by the host Chester Yellow Jackets 50-49.

Chester jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead thank to back-to-back three pointers from Zach Lochhead and back-to-back three-pointers from Aaron Grah less than 90 seconds into the game.

But from that point, Marissa-Coulterville would outscore Chester 9-7 to close out the quarter and trail the Yellow Jackets 18-9.

Marissa-Coulterville outscored Chester in the second and cut the lead down to 27-24 at halftime.

Numerous unforced turnovers haunted the Yellow Jackets in the second half and the Meteors took advantage of most of them.  Marissa-Coulterville took their first lead with 1:30 lead in the third quarter, leading 43-41.

Neither team would lead by more than three points in the fourth quarter.  Chester had three chances in the final minute to take the lead and win the game.  But a turnover by Zach Lochhead gave the ball back to the Meteors with 20 seconds to play but Marissa couldn't convert.  Then Chester had the ball with :02.5 seconds left under their own basket but a shot was blocked and the follow up attempt bounced off the rim as the horn sounded.  Marissa-Coulterville rallied to beat Chester 50-49.

Casey Pitchford led Marissa-Coulterville with 14 points while Mike Lloyd and Dave Parkinson finished with 10 points each.

Chester's Zach Lochhead led all scorers with a game high 20 points.  Aaron Grah finished with 14 points.  Carlo Marconi tossed in eight, Justin Woodward had six and Matt Chandler finished with a free throw.

So the semifinal rounds are set.  In the championship semifinals on Thursday night, Valle Catholic will play New Athens at 6pm followed by a rematch of last year's final between Saxony Lutheran and Marissa-Coulterville at 7:30pm.

On Friday, the consolation semifinals will feature Valley Park and Elverado at 6pm followed by Chester and Dongola at 7:30pm.

Championship Saturday will begin with the 7th place game at 2:45pm followed by the consolation final at 4:15pm.  The third place game will tip at 6pm followed by the championship game of the 48th annual Chester Invitational Tournament at 7:30pm.