BELLE, Mo. - The No. 4 seed South Callaway Bulldogs could not survive a season-low output in Thursday night's narrow loss to the No. 2 Chamois Pirates in the championship of the first-ever Belle Tournament.
South Callaway (4-11) struggled in the early going and trailed 9-3 after one quarter. The Bulldogs, though, turned the tables in the second quarter, outscoring Chamois 9-1 to carry a 12-10 edge into halftime.
South Callaway stumbled into another offensive rut in the third quarter and was outscored by the Pirates 12-4. The Bulldogs were only down 22-16 to open the fourth quarter, but were unable to complete a comeback despite outscoring Chamois 17-12 over the last 8 minutes.
"Defensively, Chamois is very tough to score on in the paint," South Callaway head coach Tony Brandt said. "We had great perimeter looks all night but were just not able to knock many down until the fourth quarter (including three 3-pointers)."
Junior guard Dylan Lepper tallied nine points to lead the Bulldogs, who also lost to the Pirates 49-45 in Show-Me Conference play Jan. 5 at Mokane. Junior guard Kaden Helsel - who had his three-game streak of scoring at least 30 points snapped - contributed seven points Thursday night.
Sophomore guard Treysen Gray also had seven points for South Callaway.
Logan Bockting was the lone double-figure scorer in the game, ending up with a game-high 14 points to direct Chamois. Aaron Brandt - who tormented the Bulldogs with a 35-point rampage in their previous meeting - was limited to eight Thursday night.
"(Senior guard) Brandon Ashley and Kaden Helsel did an outstanding job guarding Aaron Brandt," Tony Brandt said. "He is one of the best, if not the best scorer we have played all year."
Helsel, Lepper and senior guard Blake Parker were all named to the all-tournament team.
South Callaway is the sixth seed for this week's 33rd-annual Sturgeon Tournament and will run up against a familiar foe - No. 3 New Bloomfield - in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The contest will be played in the high school gym.
The Bulldogs already own two wins over the Wildcats this season - 62-55 in a Show-Me Conference matchup Dec. 9 at New Bloomfield, followed by a 69-35 blitz in the third-place game of the South Callaway Tournament on Jan. 12.