Boys' varsity basketball: Fatima 74, New Bloomfield 71

WESTPHALIA - Jacob Crede buried a dramatic half-court shot that just beat the final buzzer as the Comets clipped the Wildcats in their Show-Me Conference opener Tuesday night.

New Bloomfield trailed 55-50 to begin the fourth quarter and was down by as many as 12 points before rallying to tie the game at 71-all with :02.1 left. The Wildcats, coming off a 45-39 loss to Jamestown for the title of the Tipton Invitational Tournament on Saturday night, slipped to 4-2 on the season.

"I was proud of how hard our kids played in a very tough environment (at Fatima)," New Bloomfield head coach Tim Gilmore said. "The biggest thing we talked about after losing the Tipton championship game was how to handle adversity.

"In the game vs. Jamestown I felt like we struggled earlier and got down on ourselves. Unfortunately, the ball did not bounce our way on the last-second shot (Tuesday night), but I was proud that we never hung our heads when we got down."

Senior guard Jak Kitchens logged a game-high 26 to points to pace four players in double figures for the Wildcats. Senior forward Cole Hazelhorst chipped in with 15 points, while senior guard Kyle Emerson and junior guard Jalen Martin both provided 14.

Sam Groner countered with 18 points to lead four players in double figures for Fatima. Brett Werner followed with 16 points, Tim Brunnert tallied 15 and Daniel Holterman had 13.

New Bloomfield travels to South Callaway for an SMC matchup at 6 p.m. Friday.