BOONVILLE - The Hornets found themselves in overtime for the third time this season, but ultimately couldn't take down the Pirates in Tuesday night's non-conference loss.
Fulton trailed 52-49 to start the fourth quarter but owned a three-point lead with 28 seconds to play in regulation. However, Boonville forced the extra period when Charlie Bronakowski buried a late 3-pointer to tie the game at 64-all.
The Pirates then outscored the Hornets 11-8 in overtime to clinch the win.
The loss was the third in a row for Fulton (3-3), which is 2-1 in overtime this season.
Boonville jumped out to an early 14-4 advantage, but the Hornets battled their way back to take a 17-16 edge after one quarter. Fulton maintained a narrow 33-32 lead at halftime, but the Pirates outscored the Hornets 20-16 in the third quarter to take a three-point advantage into the final 8 minutes of regulation.
Senior guard Anthony Paine - who was 8-of-8 from the field - delivered 18 points to steer four players in double figures for Fulton, which shot 56 percent (26-of-46) as a team. Junior forward Tyler Sayler was next with 15 points and senior guards AJ Reid and Taeon Logan had 12 and 10, respectively.
"It was another overtime thriller," Hornets head coach Justin Gilmore said. "I thought we played an overall solid game. We had contributions from a lot of guys and we rebounded and shot free throws well (16-of-20), which haunted us the last couple of games.
"We were a little sloppy with the ball, which hurt us a bit, but we'll clean it up at practice this week and get back on the horse against Kirksville."
Bronakowski directed Boonville with a game-high 21 points and Clayton Cochenour supplied 20.
Sophomore Zane Jennings responded with 14 points to lead Fulton (2-1) to a 48-38 triumph in the junior varsity game. Sophomore Cameron Bennett contributed 10 points.
The Hornets will look to get back on track when they travel to Kirksville seeking their first North Central Missouri Conference win of the season at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Fulton is o-2 in the NCMC.
"There were a lot of positives to take out of (the Boonville game) and we've played some competitive games," Gilmore said. "These close games will give us some good experience as we get late into the season and look ahead to a tough district.
"We are very, very close to putting everything together."