New Bloomfield boys blast St. Elizabeth for fourth straight win

Junior guard Grant Nichols poured in a game-high 26 points as the Wildcats closed the regular season with an 82-54 SMC rout of the Hornets on Thursday.

It's a fourth consecutive win for New Bloomfield (14-11, 4-3 Show-Me Conference).

The Wildcats garnered a 41-25 cushion at halftime.

"My favorite thing about how we played tonight is we jumped out 18-6 (in the first quarter) and that's one thing we talked about is having a good start and jumping out to big first quarters," New Bloomfield head coach Tim Gilmore said.

New Bloomfield senior forward Brady Wiler tallied 14 points, while junior guard Derek Shikles and junior forward Leo Ramirez each posted 13 points.

Braydon Holtmeyer led St. Elizabeth with 19 points.

The Wildcats dropped their junior varsity finale 62-45.

New Bloomfield - the No. 5 seed in the Class 2, District 8 tournament - play No. 4 Vienna at 5:30 p.m. next Tuesday in Russellville.

"I like how we're on a roll right now," Gilmore said. "We've won four in a row going into districts, which is nice. We're giving ourselves a good rhythm going in and I tell the guys it's not how you start, its how you finish."