Sweeping St. Pius X’s (Festus) Lancers on the road last Monday night in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day basketball action, Hermann’s Bearcats looked to duplicate the feat Friday night hosting St. Francis Borgia’s Knights in a battle of Highway 100 hoops squads at Hermann High School (HHS).

Falling 36-20 in junior-varsity action, Drew Lansford’s Hermann Bearcats led 39-38 with 2:20 remaining on a Kohlt Witthaus bucket before Borgia’s Emory Woehrman hit three free throws in the final minute of the game putting Hermann on the short end of a 41-39 final score.

“We implemented our game plan really well tonight,” Lansford said. “We were able to hold Emory (Woehrman) to five points which was well under his season average. Our boys did a marvelous job and a couple bounces here or there could’ve meant a different outcome.”

Trading 3-pointers in the first quarter, Hermann and Borgia played to an 11-11 tie after eight minutes of basketball which featured four ties and four lead changes.

Taking leads of 14-11 and 16-15 on points from Ryker Ash and Myles Stiers, Hermann wound up trailing 18-15 at halftime when Borgia hit a 3-pointer with a minute for the second quarter.

Hermann went back in front on a Witthaus bucket at the 4:40 mark of the third quarter for a 22-20 lead before another Witthaus 3-ball just over a minute later put the Bearcats back on top 25-23.

Stiers added another 3-pointer with 1:38 for the quarter giving Hermann their biggest lead of the game at five by a 28-23 score.

Borgia then answered with a five-point spurt tying the game at 28-28 after three quarters.

Witthaus broke the 30-30 tie on a basket with 7:32 remaining before a Stiers bucket put Hermann ahead 32-30 with 6:55 remaining.

Stiers then tied at it 35-35 on a 3-pointer with 4:40 to go before an Aiden Eikermann basket gave the Bearcats a 37-35 advantage with 3:37 left.

Fourth-quarter action saw two ties and seven lead changes with the last of which coming in the final minute of the game when Borgia hit three free throws.

Stiers just missed a double double leading the Bearcats with 13 points and nine rebounds while Witthaus added 12 points, five assists and five rebounds.

Ash hit a pair of first-half 3-pointers for six points while Eikermann added five points and six rebounds.

Tayven Hopkins rounded out Hermann’s scoring with three points and five rebounds.

Borgia was led by Tal Coleman with 15 points off the bench all on made 3-point shots.

Ethan Chambers also reached double figures for Borgia with 11 points.

Scheduled to have started last night (Tuesday), action at the Hermann Invitational Boys Basketball Tournament will tip off tonight (Wednesday) after Winter Storm Fern delayed the start of this week’s tournament action with nearly 10 inches of snow.