Morristown opened its holiday tournament with a 43-39 win over New Washington to provide head coach Collin McCartt with his first win with the Yellow Jackets.
Nick Stidham scored 17 points and Nolan Laster had 14 to lead the Yellow Jackets Wednesday at the Bee Hive in Morristown.
New Washington held a 9-7 lead after one quarter but Stidham had eight points in the second quarter to match the Mustangs’ output and put Morristown up 27-17 by halftime.
The Mustangs cut the lead in half by the end of the third quarter but Chase Theobald had a pair of fourth-quarter field goals to stave off the comeback attempt.
Matthew Arthur led New Washington with 20 points. Mason Thompson finished with nine.
Morristown did not have enough firepower to get a second win Wednesday.
South Dearborn limited the Yellow Jackets to two total field goals in the second and third quarters to pull away for a 63-38 victory.
Stidham again led the Yellow Jackets (1-7) with 15 points but he managed just one free throw in the middle two quarters. Laster finished with 12 points.
Eli Hoffman led South Dearborn with 16 points. Ryan Willoughby and Corbin McHenry each had 10.
In other games Wednesday, South Dearborn opened the 7-team tournament with a 66-38 win over New Washington.
Covenant Christian defeated Randolph Southern 61-48.
Clinton Prairie followed with a 54-49 win over South Ripley.
South Ripley bounced back with a 64-51 win over Randolph Southern.
And Covenant Christian set up a championship game appearance against South Dearborn with a 48-32 victory over Clinton Prairie.
Six teams return to Morristown today for day two of the tournament.
New Washington (2-6) will face South Ripley (4-4) and Randolph Southern (2-4) faces Clinton Prairie (9-1) ahead of the championship game between Covenant Christian (6-2) and South Dearborn (6-2).
Morristown will not play today. The tournament was originally scheduled for eight teams but a late cancellation left little time to add an eighth team.
To honor the three-game guarantee for all the visiting teams, Morristown opted to play just two games Wednesday with no second-day game on the schedule.
