Clayton Parker and Tyler Erwin were thrilled to get all-tournament honors in this year’s Hermann Invitational Tournament.

The Montgomery County sophomores just wished they would have walked out of Hermann with a team championship.

The Wildcats came up short of their fourth Hermann tournament title and their first in three years, losing to the host-Hermann Bearcats 45-38 in the championship game on Jan. 28. Two weeks before, MCHS knocked off Hermann 67-65 in the title game of the South Callaway Tournament.

“Hermann is a good team,” Erwin said. “They played well.”

MCHS had its seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss to Hermann. The Wildcats took a 13-6 record into their road game against Van-Far on Jan. 31. They have a home game against Clopton on Feb. 2.

Parker said despite the loss to Hermann, he’s optimistic his team will finish with another strong season.

“I think we’ll be a scary team,” Parker said. “This loss (to Hermann) is going to power us and give us some motivation.”

The Bearcats, who won their third straight Hermann tournament title and their 11th overall, stormed to a 7-0 lead after the first two minutes and never trailed the rest of the way. MCHS got within three points twice in the second half, but that’s as close as it would get.

“I thought we played really hard,” MCHS coach Scott Kroeger said. “Whenever those bright lights are on, we have to figure out a way to be consistent. It didn’t seem to bother us down in South Callaway. But Hermann seemed to get to us a little bit.”

The Wildcats’ last championship at Hermann was in 2020. They played Hermann in the title game for the first time since 1980, which was the first year of the tournament. MCHS won that contest.

“For some reason, (the 2020 team) was the only team I’ve ever coached who has played good basketball here in this gym,” Kroeger said. “Historically, we don’t play very good basketball here as far as taking care of the ball and that kind of stuff.”

The Wildcats beat New Haven and California in pool play to advance to the championship game against Hermann, which was the No. 1 seed.

Parker led the Wildcats with 14 points in the championship game. He scored 49 points in three games to earn all-tournament honors at Hermann for the second year in a row.

“An all-tournament team is a player accolade,” said Parker, who also was named all-tournament at South Callaway and Montgomery County this season. “I would rather have a championship than an all-tournament honor. It feels great to get it. It’s just that I’m a team player and I want our team to win.”

Erwin was named to the Hermann all-tournament team for the first time after finishing with 26 points in the tournament, including 17 against New Haven.

“It meant a lot to me,” Erwin said. “I worked hard throughout this whole tournament and in practice to earn this with Clayton.”

Also for the Wildcats, sophomore Isaiah Thomas finished with 13 points. He scored a basket with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter that cut Hermann’s lead to 37-34.

Parker Anderson finished with 20 points to lead Hermann, which beat MCHS for the second time this season. The Wildcats lost to the Bearcats in the third-place game of the Montgomery County Invitational in December.

“They were shooting in their home gym,” Parker said. “It’s tough. They shoot in these rims every day. They had the advantage over us, but that’s not an excuse at all. We should come in with the energy and the fight to be able to beat them.”