The top-seeded Hornets weathered early offensive struggles to position themselves in the finals of the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament.
Senior forward Austin Wilson netted a game-high 20 points as Fulton downed the No. 5 seed Clopton Hawks 71-50 in a semifinal matchup late Thursday night.
The Hornets (2-0) dueled with the No. 2 seed Bowling Green Bobcats for the tournament title Saturday night. Results were not available at press time.
Fulton missed eight shots from inside the paint in the first quarter Thursday night, but only found itself down 11-9. The Hornets and Hawks were then tied three times in the second quarter before senior guard Ricky Dawson's basket put Fulton in front to stay at 20-18.
Fulton was up 29-24 going into halftime and outscored Clopton 21-11 in the third quarter to lengthen its advantage to 50-35. Hornets head coach Ryan Shaw explained that his team's edge in athleticism and depth contributed to wearing down the Hawks.
"We were just able to extend and extend and extend that lead because we had more players with fresh legs - fresh legs and a high skill level," Shaw said.
Wilson finished 5-of-12 from the floor - including 2-of-3 from 3-point range - to lead four Fulton players in double figures. Senior forward Devin Gibson supplied 12 points and Dawson tallied 10. Senior forward Sam Christensen tallied a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Hornets shot 42 percent (24-of-52) as a team, but were outrebounded 47-40.
"We scored in a lot of different ways. We were able to get to the rim a lot," Shaw said. "Austin and Ricky and Devin did a good jot getting to the rim and Sam did a good job of cleaning it up."
Meshawn Marshall topped Clopton with 13 points and tied for the team lead with eight rebounds. The Hawks shot only 35 percent (16-of-46) from the field.