MONTGOMERY CITY — Ending the week with hardware.

That was the goal for Jake Witthaus’ Hermann Bearcats during the Montgomery County Boys Basketball Tournament at Montgomery County High School.

Dropping a 54-44 semifinal decision to Mexico’s Bulldogs Thursday night, Hermann was sent to Saturday afternoon’s third-place game against another Highway 54 foe in Fulton’s Hornets.

Trailing most of the second half, Bearcat junior John Hiatt canned a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:29 remaining giving Hermann a 44-42 lead before they went on to a 47-42 victory giving them third-place hardware.

“I’m proud of our guys for battling the way they did in spite of not having a deep bench this week,” Witthaus said. “We were trailing the majority of the second half but we did not give up and eventually got the lead back to help us end the week 2-1.”

Leading 10-8 with 2:52 for the opening quarter, A Coulter Schwartze bucket sparked a 7-0 run capped by a Easton Stiers 3-pointer giving the Bearcats a 17-8 lead with 1:27 for the first period.

Fulton used a 7-2 run to pull within four of Hermann by a 19-15 score after eight minutes of basketball.

Five points from Schwartze in a span of :21 put the Bearcats back on top 26-22 with 5:02 until halftime.

From there, the Hornets scored the final 10 points of the second quarter to leave Hermann trailing 32-26 at the halftime intermission.

Schwartze led the Bearcats with 10 first-half points while Fulton’s Rowdy Gohring led the Hornets and all scorers with 16 first-half markers.

Not missing a beat to start the second half, Schwartze accounted for six of Hermann’s eight third-quarter points keeping the Bearcats withing striking distance of the Hornets trailing 38-34 entering the fourth quarter.

Down 42-39 with 3:16 remaining, Schwartze sparked a game-winning 8-0 Bearcat run with a bucket at the 2:45 mark of the final period. Hiatt’s aforementioned 3-ball in addition to a Daeden Hopkins put back and a Stiers free throw helped Hermann sting Fulton with a fourth-quarter comeback.

Leading three Bearcats in double figures, Schwartze finished with a double double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Hopkins and Stiers also added 10 points apiece with Hopkins grabbing five rebounds.

Hiatt almost made it a quartet of Bearcat double-digit scorers finishing with nine points and five rebounds.

In spite of not finding the scoring column, Nolan Brune dished out a team-high five assists.

Gohring led Fulton with 22 points and five rebounds.

Leading 28-26 at halftime last Thursday in semifinal action at Montgomery County against top-seeded Mexico, Hermann was outscored 33-16 in the second half of their 54-44 loss to the Bulldogs sending them to the third-place contest.

Hopkins led three Bearcats in double figures against Mexico with 13 points and six rebounds.

Brune added 12 points and six assists while Schwartze finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

Opening the Montgomery County Boys Basketball Tournament last Tuesday, Hermann posted a 54-46 victory over Clopton’s Hawks keeping them on the winner’s side of the bracket.

Hiatt dropped in a game-high 25 points for the Bearcats against Clopton to go with five steals, four assists and three rebounds.

Schwartze also added 17 points and six rebounds.

Hopkins just missed a double double scoring eight points and pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds.

Brune rounded out the Hermann scoring against Clopton with four points, three rebounds and three assists.

Traveling west on Highway 100 to Linn for a road showdown with the Wildcats last night (Tuesday), Witthaus’ Bearcats will host California’s Pintos Friday night with a 6 p.m., tipoff at Hermann High School.