It will be a Cahokia Conference showdown for the championship of the 48th annual Chester Invitational Tournament.

In the championship semifinals Thursday night, New Athens defeated Valle Catholic 50-32 while Marissa-Coulterville waltzed past Saxony Lutheran 53-27. It will be the first meeting between New Athens and Marissa-Coulterville in the championship of the Chester Invitational Tournament.

In Thursday night's opener, New Athens jumped out to a 9-4 lead after the first quarter and outscored the Warriors 12-5 in the second to take a 21-9 lead at halftime.

Valle Catholic outscored New Athens 16-14 in the third quarter, creating many turnovers with a stingy three-quarter court trapping press.  However, the Warriors missed a number of shots in the paint off the turnovers.

New Athens led 35-25 heading to the fourth.

Tyler Womack led New Athens with a game high 21 points while Vince Kiefer finished with 16.

Valle was led by Michael Loida's eight points.  Kellen Bader and Ryan Hermann each finished with six points.

In Thursday's nightcap, New Athens jumped out to a 18-7 lead after the first quarter and built a commanding 37-14 lead at halftime after outscoring Saxony Lutheran 19-7 in the second quarter.

After outscoring the Crusaders 15-7 in the third, Marissa-Coulterville held a commanding 52-21 lead heading to the fourth.

Joey Martin led a trio of double digit scorers for Marissa-Coulterville with a game high 12 points.  Cody Mahan and Casey Pitchford each finished with 10 points.

Kris Cook led Saxony Lutheran with nine points while Brayton Klaus finished with eight points.

The consolation semifinals will be played Friday night at Daniel Colbert Memorial Gymnasium.  In the first game, Elverado will battle Valley Park, MO while Chester will tangle with Dongola in the nightcap at 7:30pm.

Saturday's championship round begins at 2:45pm with the seventh place game followed by the consolation final at 4:15pm.  The third place game will tip at 6pm with the championship set for 7:30pm.

Following the championship, the 10-member All Tournament Team will be announced.