The opening minutes of Saturday’s Hermann Tournament championship had a similar feel for the Warrenton boys team.

No. 1 seed Montgomery County hit its first five 3-pointers, and it looked like the Warriors could lose their third straight Hermann title game.

But the Warriors straightened their defense out, Brenden Smith dropped 22 points and Warrenton captured its first Hermann championship since 2003 with a 58-48 win.

“I figured they were going to hit a heck of a lot more than that,” Warrenton Head Coach Mark Thomas said of Montgomery County’s hot shooting early. “In every film I had on them, they shot the lights out. So the game plan coming in was to close out harder on them, make them put it on the deck and shoot off the move. We were kind of lax in the game plan to start off, but we got it tightened up.”

After scoring 95 points in the semifinals against Wright City, the Wildcats found themselves in a sluggish pace against Warrenton.

Both teams mixed up defenses and struggled to score most of the night.

“Nerves can have an effect on all of us,” Thomas admitted, “coaches, players, everybody.”

Neither team shot the ball particularly well, but the Warriors extended their lead to 47-37 early in the fourth quarter on a Jake Tonioli 3-pointer.

The Warriors responded with three straight turnovers, however, and Montgomery County cut the lead to five with three minutes left.

“They told me in the timeout that they do that on purpose because they’re trying to see if they can actually give me a heart attack,” Thomas said with a smile. “But I told them they’ll be fine, just hit your free throws. And we practice free throws every day, so it paid off.”

What could have been a 15-point win turned into a four-point game with a minute left, but Warrenton hit eight of its last 12 free throws to keep the Wildcats at arm’s length.

In some cases, coaches will admit that close games are better for their teams than blowout wins.

“I’m not going to lie, I’d rather win by 30 and feel better,” Thomas said, laughing. “I do like the teaching moments, but winning by a lot keeps me a lot less stressed.”

After losing four of their last five coming into the tournament, the Warriors improved their record to 11-6 in Hermann.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Thomas said. “They’re a really, really good team and they have a really good record, and they can really fill it up quick. I was proud of the way we defended and the way we played together tonight.”

Tonioli and Caleb Strauss finished with 12 points each, and Randy McRoberts added eight.

Despite being the only Class 4 school in the tournament, recent history told Thomas it wasn’t going to be any easy path to the championship.

“No, because we’ve been in the championship game the last three years and this was the first time we’ve won it,” he said when asked if his team expected to win. “I don’t take any of these teams lightly because a lot of them are very well-coached. The thing you’re going to find with smaller schools is that they may not have a lot of kids to pick from, but they sure work hard and they’re always going to fight to the end. So you always give those teams a chance to win.”