The Glasgow boys punched their ticket to the Class 1 Final Four for the sixth time since 2008 with a 64-55 comeback win over Atlanta on Friday in the state sectionals at Moberly Area Community College.

Senior Edris Hamilton passed the 1,000-point milestone with Friday’s win. He led his team with 24 points.

“He made some shots that, really, he hasn’t made all year. He’s a big-time player in a big-time atmosphere,” said Glasgow coach Mick Cropp about his senior’s milestone achievement.

Hamilton entered Friday’s contest with 998 points. After falling behind early, Glasgow crept back in with a 7-2 run, capped off by a jumper by Hamilton to ratchet his career tally to 1,000 points and tie the game at 7-7.

“He needed two, and he got it out of the way,” Cropp said.

The two teams battled through three lead changes and three ties through the first quarter, but it was the Yellowjackets on top 13-11 after eight minutes.

Atlanta established two elements of its game plan in the first period. The first was that the Hornets would focus defensively on Glasgow junior Jordan Fuemmeler, one of the premier players in all of Class 1 Missouri basketball. The second was making sure the ball got into the hands of 6’8 senior Roman Phillips on as many offensive possessions as possible.

Fuemmeler still found a way to finish in double figures, scoring five of his total 13 points in the first quarter with a 3-pointer. Glasgow adapted to the pressure, spreading the ball around with four of the five starters entering the scorebook and junior Ryan Graves scoring off the bench.

“They played a box and one, and they weren’t going to let [Fuemmeler] beat them,” explained Cropp. “We had other kids step up. Ryan Graves hit tough shots on the interior and made a big three at the end. Edris shot the ball well from the 3-point line. Jackson Meyer made some threes.

“It was a collective effort. If you’re going to win this time of year, you’ve got to be more than one or two guys.”

Atlanta firmly established Phillips. The towering senior scored eight of his game-high 33 points in the first quarter.

“We kind of had to pick our poison,” said Cropp. “Do we want to guard him with one guy and take the shooters away? Or do we want to double him and open up shooters? Eventually, we doubled him down the stretch.”

Phillips continued to dominate the lane over the first half of the second quarter, scoring six points to Glasgow’s four to tie the game at 17-17 three minutes in. But the Jackets buckled down, held him scoreless for the final five minutes of the first half, and strung together a 14-3 run to go into halftime with a 30-20 lead.

Things changed with a dramatic 15-point swing in the third quarter. Over a span of six minutes and 40 seconds, the Hornets went from trailing by 10 to leading by five. Phillips scored 13 points during a 22-7 run that put Atlanta in front 42-37.

Glasgow answered with seven points in the last 56 seconds of the period, sparked by a 3-pointer by Hamilton and a transition layup at the buzzer by Fuemmeler.

Cropp said retaking the lead at the end of the wild third quarter was crucial.

“I think the big thing was we didn’t quit at the end of the third quarter,” he said. “We continued to have good possessions. We ended up leading after the third quarter after losing that lead, and that was huge. Edris drove the length of the court and dished it off to Jordan at the buzzer. Even though they came back from 10 down, we were still up. I thought that was huge.”

Atlanta tightened its defense in the third quarter to outscore the Jackets 22-14. But in the fourth quarter, Glasgow reversed the damage. After allowing the Hornets to twice retake the lead in the final period’s opening minutes, Hamilton swished a shot from behind the arc to put his team back in front and ignite a 10-1 run that he bookended from the 3-point line.

With Glasgow ahead by eight, Atlanta called a timeout with two minutes left.

“I didn’t tell them a lot,” Cropp said about the timeout. Instead, he said it was Hamilton who told him, team, the next two minutes were the most important of their lives. “That was important for him to step up.”

Phillips scored immediately coming out of the timeout. Atlanta then took advantage of its low foul count and stopped the clock without putting Glasgow on the line. Graves then knocked down a crucial 3-point shot with 95 seconds remaining to increase Glasgow’s lead to nine.

Atlanta sophomore JJ White cut the deficit to four with five points in just seven seconds. But Glasgow senior Colton Boss scored from the paint with 30 seconds left to all but put the game away. Fuemmeler added a basket with a bonus free throw with 8.9 ticks remaining to make the final score 64-55.

“I am super proud of the kids,” Cropp said after the game.

The return to the state semifinals seemed like a long shot for a team that two years ago won just four games and had one varsity player returning to this year’s squad. Fuemmeler, who transferred back to his hometown team after scoring more than 1,000 points at Higbee during his freshman and sophomore seasons, was an essential addition for the Yellowjackets, who finished 16-9 last year with a first-round exit in district play.

Hamilton and Fuemmeler combined for 37 of Glasgow’s 64 points against Atlanta. The Jackets benefitted from a critical performance by 6’2 freshman starter Jackson Meyer, who finished with 14 points with a pair of 3-point baskets. Graves added seven points off the bench with a 3-pointer.

Colton Boss, a 6’3 senior, added six points, including a clutch bucket from the paint, in the game’s final half-minute.

“Colton Boss is a senior who didn’t play varsity last year,” Cropp said. “He comes out this year and has had a really good year. He played tough tonight against the big kid, which is a tough task.”

Glasgow is now one of four Class 1 teams to advance to the final site at Missouri State University in Springfield. The Jackets, now 23-6, will take on perennial final four team St. Elizabeth (20-10), which makes its fifth straight semifinal appearance, at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Great Southern Bank Arena.

St. Elizabeth finished third in the state a year ago.

Defending champions South Iron (26-4) will open the semifinals with a noon tipoff against Jefferson (Conception)/South Nodaway (28-2).

The winners will advance to the championship game at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 10. The losers will play for third place at 10 a.m. on Friday.