Maintaining composure was crucial in claiming a 59-40 victory on the Wildcats' home court. "I told them going in that the more disciplined team would come away with the win," said Burle. "We knew it was going to be an intense battle. I think for the majority of the game we were able to keep our discpline about ourselves." It was bound to happen, and while it took a little longer than in last year's battle, a technical was called. Actually, a double foul was assessed. With 5:04 remaining in the second quarter, Wright City's Shajuan Butler was whistled for a technical foul and Warrenton's Tom Dapp was called for an intentional foul after the two were involved in some unsportsmanlike contact. Burle says he immediately made certain the incident did not alter his team's fate in a negative way. "We were able to call a timeout, and I pulled them over and got things calmed down," said Burle. "We lost our cool a little bit, but we re-explained out intentions and got refocused on our goal." The first-year coach says he wasn't surprised by the incident, as tensions always run high in the game. His counterpart, Wright City coach Mark Scacewater says first time coaching the rivalry was an eye-opener. He also made sure his resorted to settling the game on the court. For Warrenton, keeping its cool fell into the leadership of its seniors as much as anything. Post presence Kyle Terry says he approached Dapp and helped him regain his composure. "I just told him to stay focused," assured Terry. "As a senior, I feel the responsibility of making sure we all keep our heads on track emotionally." Terry also says his coach kept pushing the message of staying disciplined. "He told us, 'Hey, we need to control ourselves," he said. "If they want us to play at their fast tempo, we'll let them, but we're going to control the game.'" SENIOR SENDOFF Tuesday's triumph was especially sweet for Warrenton's four starting seniors. Andrew Laske was still reeling with energy long after the final buzzer. His 19 points was a game-high. "I came into this game with a purpose, and that was to beat Wright City as badly as possible," assured Laske. "I intended to play my best." He says winning by a large margin just made the victory that much more satisfying. Post player Kyle Terry adds that ending his career with a two-game winning streak against the Warriors' rival is a nice parting gift. "Any win is nice, but a dominating victory is even better," said Terry. "It definitely felt good when the clock hit zero." Keith Terry dropped in 16 points, while his brother Kyle added 10. It was Kyle's first rivalry game as a varsity player. "I think we had the right mindset going into this one," said Kyle. "Having one of my better games in such a big game was a lot of fun." Ben Tappmeyer had also played in previous rivalry games and scored five points on Tuesday night. DOMINANCE DOWN LOW Burle says his team was aware it would have an advantage in the paint against a Wright City team that has been inconsistent down low. "Our idea was to push the ball into the paint," said Burle. "We had been watching film and trying to improve on our post players spacing. I thought that worked out tonight." The Warriors exhibited balance offensively, but it was their diligence on the offensive boards that set them apart. Warrenton got 31 points from its post players, many of those off of offensive boards. Wright City coach Mark Scacewater quickly accounted for Warrenton's success. "I counted something like 24 points they got on putbacks," said Scacewater. "Our guys just kind of froze up when they were in the game and didn't execute." His says his team got caught standing still too many times under the basket. The 6-foot-5 combination of the Terrys proved overwhelming for Wright City. Waylon Cox and Deon Bradshaw matched their height, but could not equal the strength of Warrenton's senior duo. Kyle what Burle calls one of his best games to date, adding nine rebounds to compliment his 10 points. Perhaps, more importantly, was that the Warriors inside-out game and penetration was working more efficiently that it had the entire season.