NEW BLOOMFIELD - State-ranked New Bloomfield made sure its festive homecoming crowd departed with a satisfied feeling.
With the game tied at 32-all entering the fourth quarter, New Bloomfield limited Linn to just three baskets down the stretch as it secured a 48-42 Show-Me Conference victory in a clash between Wildcats.
The win was the eighth in a row for surging New Bloomfield (13-3, 2-2 SMC), ranked ninth in Class 2.
"We struggled scoring it tonight and we didn't do good job of knocking down our open looks," New Bloomfield head coach Tim Gilmore said. "That's hats off to Linn as they played great defensively.
"One thing I told our guys was that sometimes you can't rely on your offense. Sometimes you're going to have to ride your defense and these kids did a great job defensively against Linn."
New Bloomfield electrified its fans early as its first basket came on a perfectly placed alley-oop to senior forward Jak Kitchens. However, Linn would suck the air out of the gym by relying on its 2-3 matchup zone defense.
By overextending outside to shooters, and making sure any New Bloomfield post player was double- or triple-teamed, Linn was able to muck up the game's pace and pulled even at 10-all on consecutive corner 3-pointers from junior guard Logan Peters.
Sensing his team needed a boost, Kitchens got to work in the second quarter. After a layup by senior forward Clay Walker, Kitchens sank a corner 3 to push New Bloomfield ahead 15-10.
Later, after making 1-of-2 free throws, Kitchens rebounded his own miss and eventually found junior guard Jalen Martin for a wide-open corner 3 to grow the lead to 19-12.
After Linn reduced its deficit to five points, Kitchens connected on a corner 3 and notched another basket to help give New Bloomfield a 27-19 edge at the break.
Kitchens produced 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. With Martin and senior guard Kyle Emerson struggling from behind the arc, Kitchens also picked up the slack by hitting three of New Bloomfield's four 3s for the game.
New Bloomfield got off to a miserable start in the third quarter as seven of its first eight possessions resulted in a missed shot or turnover. Linn capitalized by closing within 29-26 midway through the quarter.
After he missed a pair of free throws on the previous possession, Kitchens buried another corner 3 after a wild pass from senior guard Nick Hammann to put New Bloomfield up by six points.
Undeterred by Kitchens' big shot, senior guard Brady Helmig scored six quick points for Linn, including a buzzer-beating layup to tie the game at 32-all.
With just 8 minutes to go, Gilmore implored his team to find another gear defensively and it responded emphatically.
While holding Linn to just two points in the first 5:30 of the quarter, New Bloomfield surged ahead 40-34 after a Hammann layup.
Sophomore guard Alex Grellner would rejuvenate Linn on the next possession by knocking down a deep 3 from the left side of the key.
While Linn kept the outcome in question by nailing another 3, New Bloomfield handled its business at the free-throw line to punctuate the win.
While Kitchens was the only New Bloomfield player to finish in double figures, Walker provided solid production with eight points and a number of blocks.
"Clay Walker was huge tonight and he does so many things that won't end up in the stat book," Gilmore said. "He did a heckuva job rebounding - I think he had three or four offensive ones just from free throws.
"And what more can you say about Jak? He's our go-to-guy and our leader. He stepped up tonight inside and did a great job from outside as well."
While the play of his front court was enough to delight Gilmore, he was even more gratified to see how poised his team was after a week of distractions. New Bloomfield had four players participating in homecoming festivities, setting up a unique opportunity and challenge for the Wildcats.
"There's a lot of distractions when homecoming comes around," Gilmore said. "But like I told these guys we need to play in front of these types of crowds.
"If you want to win districts, it's going to be packed. If you want to play at sectionals and whatever else comes after that, then you're going to have to play in these environments, which is really good for us."
After capturing the South Callaway Invitational Tournament title Jan. 13, New Bloomfield will try to duplicate that feat in this week's 34th-annual Sturgeon Tournament. The Wildcats earned the top seed and will face No. 8 Paris in the first round at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the high school gym.
"It's going to be a big tournament and we're going to have a lot of district opponents there," Gilmore said. "The South Callaway Invitational was huge for us and hopefully we're able to make a similar run."
Stevie Johnson can be reached at (573) 826-2423, or on Twitter @Stevie_FSun.