STURGEON - The No. 2 seed New Bloomfield Wildcats held off the No. 1 Salisbury Panthers 65-60 to take third place at the 32nd-annual Sturgeon Tournament on Saturday night.
New Bloomfield (16-3) - ranked No. 8 in Class 2 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association - fell behind 20-12 after one quarter and went into halftime trailing 38-31. The Wildcats outscored Salisbury 18-6 in the third quarter to take a 49-44 lead.
"This was the first time all season that we were outscored in the first quarter and only the third time all year that we have been down at halftime," New Bloomfield head coach Tim Gilmore said. "It was nice to see that our boys showed the mental toughness that we have spoken about all season."
Senior guard Grant Nichols and senior forward Leo Ramirez paced the Wildcats with 19 points apiece. Ramirez also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
New Bloomfield plays at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico at 6 tonight.