MEXICO - The No. 2 seed Fulton Hornets came up short in their bid for a Class 4, District 8 title after a narrow 71-69 loss to the No. 1 Kirksville Tigers in the championship game Thursday night.
Fulton - which dropped both of its North Central Missouri Conference matchups with Kirksville during the regular season - finished with a 15-11 record. The Hornets were seeking their first district title since 1996.
Kirksville (21-5) now moves on to a Class 4 sectional game Tuesday night at Troy Buchanan High School. The Tigers will face the winner of the District 7 championship, which will be played Saturday.
Fulton owned a 20-19 edge after one quarter Thursday night, but Kirksville outscored the Hornets 22-15 in the second quarter to take a 41-35 lead into halftime.
The Tigers were in front 57-52 going into the fourth quarter and were able to hold off Fulton in the final seconds.
Further details from the game were not available at press time.