Fulton Hornets head coach Ryan Shaw made a brief, yet telling, assessment of his team's performance against the top-ranked Father Tolton Trailblazers.
"They're better than we are," Shaw said. "This one was pretty simple."
The Hornets - the No. 3 seed in the Southern Boone Classic - had no answers for the top-seeded Trailblazers, or their sophomore star Michael Porter Jr., in a 67-38 romp in Saturday's tournament final.
Fulton dropped to 12-7 with the loss.
Porter was dominant in leading Tolton, ranked No. 1 in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association/MOsports.com Class 3 poll.
The 6-foot-8 forward outscored the Hornets on his own, pouring in a game-high 39 points on 17-of-20 shooting. He also added a game-high 11 rebounds.
"Michael Porter is the best high school basketball player I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of them," Shaw said. "I've never seen a 6'8 guy do the things he could."
Fulton's defensive strategy for Porter was a simple one. They schemed to always stay between him and the basket and to try and pack the middle of the lane.
Porter logged two quick baskets to start the game. Hornet senior forward Austin Wilson hit a pair of free throws and senior guard Ricky Dawson converted a bucket to tie the game at 4-all.
From there, the Trailblazers stymied Fulton and took firm control of the contest. Tolton finished the first quarter on a 14-3 run, then outscored the Hornets 19-8 in the second to carry a 40-15 advantage into halftime.
On the night, Fulton shot 26 percent (11-of-43), while hitting 4-of-19 from 3-point range. The Trailblazers grabbed 13 of their 19 offensive rebounds in the first half, on their way to outrebounding the Hornets a 41-21 for the game.
"They tightened up their defense and, at the time, they had two 6'8 (players) and a 6'7 (player) in there," Shaw said. "Defensively, we challenged their first shot, but they just surrounded the boards."
Porter's younger brother, Jontay, finished with six points and five rebounds as Trailblazers finished the game 51 percent (24-of-47) from the field.
Junior guard Kalin Mitchell paced Fulton with seven points. Dawson and Wilson each tallied seven points, while junior guard Radarion Glover added five.
The Hornets hit the road for a North Central Missouri Conference game against the Marshall Owls at 7:30 tonight. Fulton throttled the Owls 85-39 on Dec. 12 in Fulton.