The Moberly Spartans delivered a dramatic rebuttal to the Fulton Hornets, knocking down a game-winning 3-pointer with 3 seconds to play Tuesday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
Fulton had escaped with a stirring 42-40 NCMC victory at Hannibal on Jan. 27 when senior guard Devin Masek flipped in a putback as time expired.
Tuesday night's loss halted a four-game winning streak for the Hornets, who slipped to 18-5 on the season and 8-2 in the North Central Missouri Conference.
" We got a good look at the end, but it just didn't go our way," Fulton head coach Justin Gilmore said Wednesday. "I thought the kids showed tremendous resiliency to be able to bounce back and not hang their heads, and be right there with a chance to win it in the final seconds.
"Sometimes things don't go your way and it can be easy to just give up, but the way these kids handled adversity was nothing short of stellar."
The Hornets owned a 13-8 edge after the first quarter and then outscored the Spartans 18-10 in the second quarter to widen their advantage to 31-18 at the break. Moberly, though, countered by outscoring Fulton 21-5 in the third quarter to go in front 39-36.
The Hornets were then down by eight points in the fourth quarter, before scrambling back to tie the game in the late going. Fulton had one final shot to force overtime but couldn't get it to fall after the Spartans' decisive 3.
Junior forward Cameron Vaughn topped the Hornets with 15 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Justin Adams supplied 14 points and eight rebounds.
"It was a tough game to lose," Gilmore said. "I thought we played a near-perfect first half - we took care of the ball, took great shots and were solid on defense.
"We started the second half with a couple of early turnovers and got going a little too fast early, which led to (Moberly) getting back in the game."
Braedan Wetrich directed the Spartans with a game-high 17 points and Daran Gaines tallied 16.
Fulton will look to regroup when it travels to Kirksville for an NCMC contest at 7:30 tonight. The Hornets roughed up the Tigers 62-30 on Feb. 14 in Fulton.
Fulton then ends the regular season with an NCMC matchup at rival Mexico at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Hornets opened the season with a 62-48 triumph over the Bulldogs on Nov. 22 in Fulton.