The Harrisburg boys didn’t let a bad start ruin their chance to claim a trophy at their own tournament on Saturday. After trailing by 11 in the first quarter, the sixth-seeded Bulldogs outscored the Class 4 Fulton Hornets, the fifth seed, 50-29 over the second, third, and fourth quarters to claim a hard-fought victory, 60-46, for the consolation trophy.

“Best second half we’ve played this year,” said Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher moments after the game. “I thought tonight was really the first time that we had come out in the second half and not just held a lead but was able to stretch out a lead against a really good team.”

Harrisburg lost to third-seeded Marshall 70-64 in the opening round of the tournament on Tuesday, then defeated seventh-seeded Linn 69-52 in the consolation semifinals on Thursday. Likewise, Fulton lost to fourth-seeded Centralia 60-51 in the opening round, but rebounded with a lopsided win over eighth-seeded Fayette, 82-41, on Thursday.

Harrisburg took a quick five-point lead in the first quarter. Senior Rylee Robinson scored the first bucket of the game off an inbound pass. Then senior point guard Caleb Nichols sank a transition layup and a free-throw after drawing the foul on the make. But Fulton answered with a 12-point run, outrunning the normally stingy Harrisburg defense.

“Our defense just wasn’t good in the first quarter. There’s no other way to say it. It was bad, and they were getting to the rim, and it was just a layup line out there,” Fisher said.

Harrisburg scored the final four points of the first quarter, but Fulton had built up a 17-10 lead after eight minutes. The Hornets ratcheted their margin to 10 points early in the second quarter as things started to get out of hand for the Bulldogs.

Things went from bad to worse when Robinson was sidelined after picking up his third foul of the game with five minutes still to play in the first half.

But Harrisburg is a team you can never count out. And despite foul trouble and a double-digit deficit, the Bulldogs rallied with an 11-0 run over the final four and a half minutes of the second quarter. The clincher was a 3-point buzzer beater by junior Jayson Eskew to give Harrisburg a 24-22 lead at halftime.

Fisher said he didn’t make any significant adjustments in the second quarter. Instead, he challenged his team to step it up.

“The big thing was getting back in transition, stopping their penetration, and contesting the threes,” he said. “They’re going to hit some tough shots, but we’ve got to make them make tough shots, and that was a big thing. And then, the biggest play of the game was Eskew hitting the three at the end of the second quarter.”

Harrisburg firmly set the tone to start the second half. Robinson was back in the game. He stole Fulton’s inbound pass to start the third quarter and scored a layup. He would score once more before heading back to the bench with his fourth foul midway through the third quarter.

Having a starter out much of the game in foul trouble meant that the rest of the team had to dial it up. Leading by three, the Bulldogs sank back-to-back threes, including a shot-clock buzzer beater by Nichols, as they inched out to a four-point lead with one quarter left to play.

Robinson was back in the game as the fourth quarter commenced. He and Nichols combined for the first 10 points of a 15-0 run to start the final stanza.

“Caleb and Riley are our two guys. And when Riley went out with that early foul trouble, I thought Caleb took it on himself to be a little more aggressive. He really kept us afloat,” Fisher said. “We were a little shaky, a little hesitant, pretty much across the board. And he did a good job of making some really tough shots and keeping us within striking distance.

“We challenged our starters at halftime. I told them, ‘the bench picked you up in the first half, and now it’s your turn to pick them up in the second half.’ And I thought they did a great job. Started off third quarter really well, then the start of the fourth quarter, that was one of the best stretches of the basketball we played all year.”

Harrisburg outscored Fulton 22-12 in the final quarter to walk away with two wins and a consolation trophy amid a stacked tournament.

“Obviously, it’s not the side of the bracket we wanted to be on, not the game we wanted to be in on Saturday. But it’s a loaded tournament, and it’s tough to get two wins in this tournament, no matter which side of the bracket you go or what time you play on Saturday,” Fisher said.

Nichols had a tremendous game, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field. He sank two of three shots from the 3-point arc, dished out a team-best five assists, and brought down four rebounds.

Robinson added 10 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.

Sophomore Evan Freeman finished barely short of the double-double with nine points and eight rebounds, with three steals and a block.

The Bulldogs scored 19 points on as many Fulton turnovers and added 16 points in transition. Harrisburg made 13 steals, but were outrebounded 34-28.

Fulton senior Paul Bruner led his team in scoring with 15 points. Sophomore Kaden Kleindienst scored 11 points.

The Bulldogs, 8-11 following Saturday’s win, opened the final stretch of the regular season at home against Central State 8 opponent Tipton (11-5) for a pre-district showdown on Tuesday after the Advertiser went to press. On Thursday, they host Class 3 Montgomery County (10-8) for a non-conference game before returning to CS8 action at Linn (3-12) on Friday.