Hermann made one heck of a halftime adjustment.
The Bearcats hit every shot they took in the third quarter -- going 9-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 at the free-throw line -- to take the lead in a 66-57 win Tuesday night against the Capital City Cavaliers at Capital City High School.
The Cavaliers had a 32-26 lead at halftime, then the Bearcats got going.
Parker Anderson got the quarter started with a long pull-up jumper, then hit a layup on an inbound pass from Conner Coffey. Reese Rehmert connected on a 3-pointer off a Coffey assist to bring the Bearcats within two at 35-33, then the pair connected again to make it 39-38 Capital City.
The Cavaliers were able to stay in front through most of the quarter, hitting four of their first six shots out of the break, including one of Colby Gates’ fives 3s and one of Aman Kesete’s four 3s.
“I thought we played well in stretches,” Capital City coach Darrin Young said. “Down the stretch, we had a couple of mental lapses. There were a couple of buckets we gave up in transition just because we didn’t sprint back, we didn’t match up. We can’t let little things like that be the determining factor in the game.”
Kesete’s 3 from the left corner off a Brooks Horton assist put the Cavaliers up 42-38, but Coffey drove for a scooped layup to make it 42-40. With 2:16 left in the quarter, Rehmert hit two free throws to tie the game at 42.
Capital City looked like it would take a lead into the final break, hitting three of its final four shots after a Hermann travel violation, but the Bearcats still couldn’t miss and hit their final three, including a Nolan Brune buzzer-beating jumper off a Reese Rehmert assist to send Hermann into the final break up 49-48.
The Bearcats string of makes ended on their first shot of the fourth quarter, but Anderson took over, scoring nine of his game-high 23 points, with five coming at the free throw line, in the final eight minutes. Anderson’s effort, which included grabbing a game-high nine rebounds with four coming in the final quarter, helped Hermann build its eventual nine-point win.
“As far as what we can control, I thought we did a pretty decent job, but it’s got to be stellar to win games,” Young said. “That’s just what it comes down to. … We can’t have excuses, we’ve got to be focused in film, we’ve got to be focused in the walkthrough and in stretching, because any little missing detail can turn into not talking on defense or not being in the right position. That turns into a basket for them and can turn into the game.”
Capital City jumped ahead early when Gates made consecutive 3s from the left corner off Nehemiah Hamilton’s first two of an eventual game-high 12 assists, then Hamilton drove for a layup to put the Cavaliers up 8-4.
Hermann took a 10-9 lead with under two minutes left in the opening quarter, but Kesete hit the first of his 3s, for three of his 12 points, and Hamilton connected on a buzzer beater that hit rim, backboard, circled around every inch of the rim and hit the backboard again before falling to send the Cavaliers into the first break up 14-12.
Capital City connected on four 3s, two from Kesete, one from Gates and one from Horton, to stay ahead in the second, then DJ Pritchett scored the Cavaliers’ final four points of the half, four of his 10.
“Those mistakes are dwindling,” Young said. “But they’re still there and we’re still fighting to work through.”
Gates brought down a team-high seven rebounds to complement his scoring, while Kesete had four assists, three boards and two steals.
Coffey filled the stat sheet for Hermann with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals, while Reese Rehmert had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Capital City shot 22-of-55 (40 percent) from the field, 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from 3 and 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from the free-throw line.
Hermann hit 24-of-38 (63.2 percent) overall, 6-of-10 (60 percent) from 3 and 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) at the free-throw line.
Hermann outrebounded Capital City 34-18.
Capital City (5-12 overall, 0-3 Central Missouri Activities Conference) will return to action Friday when it makes the short trip to play at Helias at 7:30 p.m.
Capital City beat Hermann 56-48 in junior varsity action Tuesday.
Imran Din-Gabisi led the Cavaliers with 16 points, while Jayvion Hunter had 12.