NEW BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The New Bloomfield Wildcats were feeling full of themselves, then the South Callaway Bulldogs wrecked the party.
Playing before an electric homecoming crowd crammed into the gym Friday night, New Bloomfield opened up a 30-18 edge over Show-Me Conference rival South Callaway when sophomore guard Jalen Martin scored underneath with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first half.
The Bulldogs, though, steadied themselves and interrupted the Wildcats' surge with back-to-back baskets, ultimately slicing their deficit to five points at halftime.
South Callaway parlayed that momentum into its first lead midway through the third quarter, then muted New Bloomfield's celebration by outscoring the Wildcats 12-7 over the last 8 minutes as the Bulldogs collected their first win of the season 62-55.
The overdue victory gave South Callaway (1-3) - playing its SMC opener - a chance to reset.
"It's a conference game, so it's huge to get off to that start," Bulldogs head coach Tony Brandt said. "New Bloomfield's very good, they just won the Tipton Tournament, they're solid.
"It's their homecoming, so they're juiced, and I just wasn't sure with us starting 0-3 how our kids would respond to that. They were very frustrated with our start, trying to figure things out, and this was just a big win for us."
The Wildcats have suddenly dropped two straight home games after opening the season 4-0. New Bloomfield bowed in its SMC opener to Fatima 74-62 last Tuesday night.
Head coach Tim Gilmore believes his Wildcats began to relax after building their big lead Friday night.
"Things were clicking on all cylinders and he (Brandt) calls a timeout, and then I feel like we kind of let down our guard," Gilmore said. "I think we got satisfied, I think we thought we were going to kind of run away with the game."
After Martin's basket put New Bloomfield up by 12 points, senior guard Brandon Ashley hit a layup to initiate an 11-4 run by South Callaway to close the first half. Sophomore guard Peyton Leeper then scored on a putback following a turnover by the Wildcats to bring the Bulldogs within 30-22 with 2:55 to go.
South Callaway made it a four-point game on a putback by Ashley with :44 remaining, but New Bloomfield took a 34-29 lead into halftime when sophomore guard Bailey Crane hit the back end of two free throws with :21.3 left.
The Bulldogs jolted the Wildcats with a 9-3 run emerging from the break, going in front to stay when junior guard Kaden Helsel's layup made it 38-37 at the 5:57 mark of the third quarter. Helsel delivered nine of his team-high 18 points in the period.
South Callaway carried a narrow 50-48 lead to the fourth quarter and responded with the first six points as New Bloomfield's offense went stale. Ashley converted a 1-and-1 with 3:24 to play, extending the Bulldogs' advantage to 56-48.
The Wildcats tallied their first points of the quarter when sophomore guard Andrew Powell made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:32 remaining. New Bloomfield then ended its dry spell from the field when junior forward Jak Kitchens drove the baseline with 1:09 to go, but by then the Wildcats were down 60-52.
Kitchens buried a 3-pointer with :15.8 left to bring New Bloomfield within five points, but Helsel knocked down a pair of free throws with :12.7 remaining to secure South Callaway's triumph.
Helsel was one of three players to reach double figures for the Bulldogs, who shot 44 percent (25-of-57) as a team and overcame 20 turnovers. Junior guard Dylan Lepper added 13 points and Ashley came off the bench to provide 10.
"I felt like we got a lot of transition baskets off their turnovers - I think that was big," Brandt said. "Then just moving the ball, I thought our kids did a good job making some reads and finishing shots around the basket.
"We made some tough shots in traffic."
Gilmore noted that the Wildcats were too lax in cutting off lanes to the basket.
"We gave up what I call too many straight-line drives," Gilmore said. "We're not sliding our feet, we're not taking every (defensive) possession as the most important possession. We're taking stuff for granted.
"I don't care about the offensive end right now, I'm talking about the defensive end - stepping up, sliding your feet, doing your job."
The 6-foot-5 Kitchens topped New Bloomfield with a game-high 28 points, but 18 of that output came in the first half. Martin was the only other double-figure scorer for the Wildcats, finishing with 16 points as New Bloomfield shot just 34 percent (19-of-56) from the field and had 29 turnovers.
"We try to run a lot of things through Jak, but we're going to have to learn that when he gets doubled (by defenders), we've got to score out of it," Gilmore said. "I've talked to our guards about it and any other post players - if your man leaves you, you've got to find a gap.
"That should be an invitation and disrespect to you, if they're going to leave you open. You've got to find a spot to score. We're watching way too much right now, we're not moving without the basketball."
South Callaway returns home for a non-conference matchup against Blair Oaks at 6 p.m. Tuesday. New Bloomfield is off until it hosts SMC foe Chamois at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Wildcats defeated the Pirates 75-66 in overtime in the semifinals of the Tipton Tournament on Dec. 1.