One of the goals of head coach Tony Brandt's South Callaway Bulldogs was to capture their own tournament title for the first time since 2002.
They're now one game away from doing just that.
The Bulldogs - the No. 1 seed in the South Callaway Invitational Tournament - secured their spot in the championship with an 84-58 semifinal romp over the No. 5 New Bloomfield Wildcats on Thursday night.
South Callaway (13-0) will play No. 3 seed Harrisburg for the tournament title at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Harrisburg toppled the No. 2 seed Hermann Bearcats 51-44 in their semifinal matchup Thursday night.
New Bloomfield (7-5) will play Hermann for third place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Bulldogs previously sped past the Wildcats 89-58 in Show-Me Conference play on Dec. 12 in New Bloomfield. Wildcats head coach Tim Gilmore vowed not to let South Callaway control the pace like that in the return meeting.
"We talked a lot about cutting down on some of their penetration because a lot of their penetration leads to 3(-pointer)s," Gilmore said. "Their biggest thing is that they make the game so fast-paced that they'll wear you down quickly."
The Wildcats accomplished just that in the opening moments of the game, drawing within 6-5 on junior guard Derek Shikles 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first quarter.
"They had us pretty well scouted so I thought they did a good job of taking away some of our early offense," Brandt said. "The thing about how we play is to try and wear you down for the fourth (quarter) and not necessarily in the first."
South Callaway's slow start was just temporary, though. The Bulldogs finished the opening quarter on a 14-6 run to open up a 20-11 lead.
Back-to-back baskets from senior forward Luke Horstman pushed South Callaway's advantage to 24-11 at the outset of the second quarter. The Bulldogs continued to ratchet up their pressure defense, forcing New Bloomfield into more turnovers (six) than field goals (5) in the period.
"I felt like in the second quarter we kind of got wore down, so we went to that 3-2 zone (defense) to kind of clog it a little more and give ourselves a break defensively," Gilmore said. "But they shoot the ball so well it's hard to contest on all 3s and keep in front at the same time, and you have to be really, really disciplined on defense and I thought we lacked discipline on defense in the second quarter."
A 3-pointer by senior forward Jacob Smith with :11 remaining in the half sent South Callaway into the break with a 40-24 advantage.
"It's all about rhythm and flow and tempo for us," Brandt said. "... As much as I would like for us to come out and knock down shots out of the gate, that doesn't always happen. But you hope by the tempo you create and turnovers, that shots will fall throughout the game."
The Wildcats found some semblance of rhythm at halftime and came out in the third quarter seemingly more composed. Junior guard Grant Nichols' layup with 4:35 to go in the period capped off an 8-3 New Bloomfield run to reduce its deficit to 43-32.
But just as quickly as it seemed the Wildcats were getting traction, the Bulldogs put together another quick spurt. South Callaway produced a 9-1 run over the next 2:45, taking a 54-33 lead on senior guard Troy Hentges' 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the quarter.
South Callaway widened its advantage to 56-38 entering the fourth quarter.
Hentges caused fits for the Wildcats' defense for much of the night as he finished with a game-high 23 points.
"Probably the hardest thing about him is he's so good on his 3s, but he's good with his mid-range game and very few high school kids have his mid-range game," Gilmore said. "He does a good job avoiding contact; my kids come in there to help and he pulls up from 10 feet and just hits that every single time."
Senior guard Cory Hanger also tallied 11 points and had a team-leading five assists for the Bulldogs. Senior guard Terry Miles finished with 10 points, while Horstman scored nine points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
Nichols and freshman forward Jak Kitchens shared team scoring honors with 14 points apiece for New Bloomfield.