The Wright City boys basketball team was given no favors in the Class 3, District 7 tournament.

The No. 8 seed Wildcats (5-15) will face top-seeded Montgomery County (18-2) Tuesday at 6 p.m. on their rivals’ home court.

Montgomery County won the first meeting, 76-45, last month.

Dakota Phillips led Wright City with 22 points, but the Wildcats struggled to stop Montgomery County’s high-powered offense most of the night.

“They score in bunches, and if you can withstand their scoring and pace, you’ll be OK,” Wright City Head Coach Ken Brown said. “Their pace is the best part of their game. They want to maximize their possessions and shoot it 90 times a game. The best way to combat that is slow it down, which is hard to do because they’re pushing tempo.”

Wright City has had success beating full-court pressure most of the season, but the Wildcats have struggled to find good shots after that, oftentimes forcing quick shots and speeding the game up.

That, Brown said, could be disastrous against Montgomery County.

“It’s enticing because when you break a press you want to play fast. I don’t mind scoring out of it if we have the numbers, but if we don’t have the numbers, then it’s going to be a problem,” Brown said. “Sometimes when we don’t have the numbers, we shoot too quickly, and that’s just playing into their hands.”

Montgomery County guards Chase Parrish and Aubrey Nelson combined to score 43 points in last month’s win.

“Chase Parrish is probably the best player in the conference, and Aubrey Nelson is one of the better point guards in the conference, and those guys can light you up in a heart beat,” Brown said. “Controlling the pace and defending is going to be the toughest task for us.”

Brown said he hopes to get another big game from the 6-foot-5 Phillips, who is often Wright City’s tallest player when the Wildcats go with a smaller lineup.

“Sometimes you have to go small just to match up with what they’ve got. I saw Warrenton play Montgomery with their usual lineup with the 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-6 guys (Caleb Strauss and Trevor Alberternst) and they had success, but their big guys are a little more skilled than my guys,” Brown said. “It will be a tall task and it’s going to come down to matchups. Can we score with our 6-foot-8 (Nick Boland) and 6-foot-5 guys versus their smaller bigs? That will be huge.”

If the Wildcats can pull the upset Tuesday night, they will face No. 4 Lutheran St. Charles (8-12) or No. 5 Bowling Green (7-11) in Thursday’s semifinals.

“Outside of Montgomery County, anybody in the district can be beat,” Brown said. “They’re the best team we’ve played all year besides Warrenton, so if we can come away with a win, I think we’ll be in good shape. But it’s going to be very difficult. We have the athletes to do it, we just have to play well, play together and play smart, and we’ll be OK.”