Three area players join all-state first teams

Dannenmueller, Armbruster and Liggins all received top honors.

Southeast Missourian

One record-setting season and two state final four appearances helped three Southeast Missouri players earn all-state honors in the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association basketball list for classes 1 through 3.

Scott City senior Mark Dannenmueller, St. Vincent senior Alex Armbruster and Bell City junior Jeff Liggins earned first-team honors on the list, which was released for publication today. The classes 4 and 5 teams will be announced in Thursday's edition.

Dannenmueller earned all-state honors in Class 3 for the second straight year after an appearance on the second team last year. Dannenmueller averaged a school-record 28 points per game to give with 9.5 rebounds per game. He shot 86 percent from the free throw line this season.

Liggins, a junior, extended Bell City's string of seasons with all-state recipients to four. C.J. Hadley, Eric Henry and Dominitrix Johnson represented Bell City on the all-state list over the past three seasons.

Liggins averaged 13.5 points and 9.5 rebounds to help Bell City to a fourth-place finish in Class 1. Liggins had a double-double in both state final four games.

Armbruster led the Indians in scoring at 18.9 points a game to go along with 6.7 assists, 4.5 steals and 4 rebounds. St. Vincent came up short in the Class 2 championship game, falling 35-30 to Marionville. Armbruster scored 18 in the championship game to lead all scorers after hitting for 21 in the semifinal victory.