The Wright City boys basketball team had five days to figure out Montgomery County after suffering a 90-63 loss last Thursday.The teams met again Tuesday in the first round of the Hermann Invitational, and for the first quarter it seemed like No. 8 seed Wright City closed the gap."I thought we handled ourselves in the first half," Wright City Head Coach Ken Brown said after his team's 79-60 loss Tuesday. "But the pressure got to us as the game went on."Montgomery deployed a man-to-man press in Tuesday's rematch after Wright City had some success against the zone pressure last week.Wright City trailed 18-16 at the first intermission, but the game started to slip away by halftime.Montgomery County's Chase Parrish became a Wright City nightmare on both ends, blocking shots and scoring at will."He's an unbelievable player," Wright City guard Devon Holmes said. "There's not stopping him in the paint."Parrish had a game-high 32 points.Holmes was hard to stop, as well, finishing with 27 points.It wasn't enough, however, as Montgomery County extended its lead to double digits early in the second half against an undermanned Wright City roster.Dakota Phillips returned to the lineup after dislocating his finger in the Clopton Tournament Jan. 7.He played sparingly and struggled against Parrish."I was expecting him to play well," Brown said of Phillips. "But I thought we should have played him (Parrish) better."Phillips finished with six points.Wright City scored over 60 points for the second game in a row, which didn't surprise Brown."We're going to score," he said. "But our problem is defending on a high level. "We're trying more zones now after struggling a bit with the man defense."Wright City will face No. 5 St. James Thursday at 6 p.m. in the consolation semifinal."We did play better than last week, so that's an improvement," Brown said. "But we just need to get better between now and Thursday."

BLOCK PARTY — Kyle Christopher has a shot blocked at the rim Tuesday night. Wright City lost to No. 1 seed Montgomery County, 79-60. 

Kory Carpenter photo.