The 3-pointers came in bunches in the first half for the Capital City Cavaliers.
But points of any kind were hard to come by after halftime.
The Hermann Bearcats held the Cavaliers to just 12 points in the second half Tuesday, rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit to win 57-44 at Capital City High School.
"You try to tell guys the importance of finishing games, No. 1," Capital City coach Darrin Young said. "And No. 2, there's the attention to detail in practice. I felt like that wasn't there for us tonight."
Capital City scored 75 percent of its first-half points from 3-point range. Several of those made 3s were a result of the Cavaliers' inside-out game, driving to the basket to collapse the Hermann defense, then passing the ball outside for a wide-open look beyond the arc.
"I thought there were a lot of good possessions we had, and we played unselfish," Young said. "It's just a matter of playing that way for the entire duration of the game.
Mitch Renfrow made four 3s in the first quarter and finished 6-of-9 beyond the arc. His 12 first-quarter points helped put Capital City ahead 20-11 after eight minutes.
"Kudos to Mitch, he prepares and works his tail off every game," Young said. "As far as attention to detail, he's always been our guy that has been mentally rock-solid the whole time he's been with us."
Capital City didn't commit its first turnover until the 3:59 mark of the second quarter and continued to move the ball well offensively.
Renfrow scored 15 of his team-high 18 points in the first half, while Blake Meredith added nine of his 11 points in the game's first 16 minutes. They helped power the Cavaliers to a 32-22 lead at halftime.
Once the second half began, it was all Hermann.
"We told our guys it was going to be a game that came down to who rebounded the ball better and who played the hardest," Young said. "Unfortunately, in the second half, they were the ones that took advantage of us."
The Bearcats began the second half on a 9-0 run in the first 2:46, closing the Cavaliers' lead to 32-31. Hermann would outscore Capital City 18-4 in the third quarter to take a 40-36 lead.
Foul trouble began to take its toll on Capital City and its short rotation of seven players, and when Corde Brown - the Cavaliers' leading scorer this season - suffered a right ankle injury with 3:44 left in the third quarter, that called for Young to insert more bench players into the game.
"We got tired defensively," Young said. "We only play six or seven guys, and as the game goes on, it gets harder mentally to stay engaged on the defensive end.
"If you looked on the court, at one time I had three freshmen and two sophomores playing in a varsity game. I had guys who play a majority of JV, and they're playing major minutes down the stretch in the second half."
Ashden Cason hit a 3 from the left corner to tie the game at 42 with 5:39 to play, but Hermann closed the game on a 15-2 run.
"Games like this, I'm hoping it will serve as a wakeup call as to how important it is to get stops on the defensive end," Young said.
Parker Anderson led Hermann (9-5) with 29 points and nine rebounds, while Holden Ash added 13 points.
"That was just a really tough loss," Young said.
Capital City (9-6) will host Helias in their first-ever meeting Thursday.
The JV game starts at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity contest at 7:30 p.m.
In Tuesday's JV game, Capital City defeated Hermann 58-27 to improve to 6-4.