The Harrisburg boys fell four points short of upsetting Class 5 Holt on Coach Combs Court Saturday during the Mid-Missouri Ramey Basketball Invitational.

The loss is only the second for the Bulldogs, currently ranked fourth in Class 2. Their only other loss came at the hands of another upper-class team and nearby rival Hallsville (Class 4).

Holt, a St. Charles County school in Wentzville, near St. Louis, had everything to lose in Friday’s game against a school three classes smaller, whereas Harrisburg had everything to gain. Even with no shame in losing to such a large opponent, Bulldogs’ coach Kyle Fisher said his team is past moral victories. “We played hard. We battled and I thought we left it all out on the floor,” he said. “When you go up against Class 5 teams that is going to have great players and make great plays, you have to figure out how to go back at them and make good, solid plays yourself. We did that for the most part. They just had a couple more bullets in the gun at the end of the game.”

The two teams were neck and neck the whole way through. But while Holt was able to pull away at times by multiple possessions, Harrisburg claimed no lead over three points. Those leads didn’t last long, either. After going ahead 39-36 on a bucket by junior Rylee Robinson and a 3-pointer by senior Trace Combs to open the third quarter, Holt erased the deficit and retook the lead within 90 seconds.

The same thing happened in the fourth quarter, only quicker. Trailing 51-48 heading into the final period, Harrisburg tied the game with a triple by senior Bryce Ott just 16 ticks in. But once again, Holt pulled back in front, this time for good, just over a minute later with a free throw.

The Bulldogs trailed but were never out of the ball game until Holt junior Will Salonics sank back-to-back threes to put the Indians ahead by five with two minutes left.

“Tip your cap to him. He made two huge threes there at the end, and that ended up being the difference in the ball game,” Fisher said. “We had good defense on him. We had our hands in his face, and he just made great shots.”

The Bulldogs hung around, cutting the lead to two points with 7.3 seconds to play on a final 3-point basket by Combs. It would be Harrisburg’s final basket of the game. Holt went on to clinch the win with two free throws by Salonics with 4.2 seconds left.

While Harrisburg’s offense mostly kept pace with its Class 5 opponent, Fisher said some letdowns by his team’s defense made the difference in the game.

“I thought where we lost the game was on the defensive end, just our lack of attention to detail mostly in the first half,” he said. “We played pretty well offensively in the first half. If our attention to detail was just a couple of clicks higher in the first half instead of being down two, we might have been up eight. It was much better than the second half.”

The Bulldogs were also without two of their top rebounders for significant stretches in the fourth quarter. Combs and senior Myals Thornhill were both consigned to the bench with four fouls.

“It made a difference,” Fisher said, “We have to be smart and stay out of foul trouble. Those are two of our leading rebounders right there. I thought the kids who were on the floor did a great job of keeping us in the ball game while those guys were on the bench.”

Combs finished with a game-high 29 points, followed by Ott and junior Caleb Sager with 11 each. Robinson added 10 points to round out four players in double-figures.

Salonics led Holt with 22 points and was named the Player of the Game. Indians’ junior Abhijiot Bajwa added 17 points.

The 10-2 Bulldogs were set to face their first opponent in the new Central State 8 Conference on Tuesday on Coach Combs Court against Class 3 South Callaway (4-7). 

Fisher said he looks forward to competing in the new CS8 after playing in the Lewis & Clark Conference for so many years. “It’s definitely going to be a little different. You’ve got some really good teams all the way through. We’re going to be challenged night in and night out. South Callaway is going to be a really fun opener.

On Wednesday, the Bulldogs then turn right around and host area rival New Franklin before traveling to CS8 favorite and current Class 2 No. 2 Eugene on Friday. The showdown will be between two of the young CS8’s best and could be an early determination in the conference’s championship. 

“It will be three games in four days. We have to make sure we get some rest in the next couple of days and get ready to roll,” Fisher said.

Next week, the Bulldogs return home to host their annual tournament. Harrisburg secured the third seed and will face sixth-seeded Fulton at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, in the middle school gym. The winner will advance to the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.