Two of the area’s most storied teams squared off in the third-place game of the Glasgow Tournament on Saturday, with the host team emerging with a decisive victory. Top-seeded Glasgow rebounded from a semifinal loss in double overtime to topple defending tournament champion Harrisburg, the second seed, with a near-perfect performance to claim the third-place trophy, 67-53.

Glasgow coach Mick Cropp said he couldn’t have asked for much more from his team in the first half after the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 19-6 lead after one quarter and went ahead 32-15 at halftime.

“We did a good job at anything we did,” Cropp said. “We defended really well, we broke the press really well, we ran our man offense really well, we ran zone offense well. I’m really happy with that.”

On the other side, Harrisburg found it challenging to do anything well. The Bulldogs struggled on both ends of the floor and couldn’t seem to make even open looks. They finished the opening period going 0-for-6 from the free-throw line.

“We just didn’t come out ready to play,” said Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher. Due to snow showers on Monday, the first two rounds of the tournament were pushed back by a day, erasing the rest day teams usually get on Friday before playing trophy games on Saturday. The Bulldogs lost a seven-point decision to eventual tournament champion Westran less than 24 hours prior.

“Our energy to start the game was not where it needed to be,” Fisher said. “Credit to Glasgow, they had energy to start the ball game. When that happens, you’re fighting from behind the whole game. You start pressing offensively, and you’re not in a flow. That was the whole issue the first half. We weren’t making shots because we weren’t taking good shots and they weren’t coming within the flow of the offense.”

Harrisburg also couldn’t find a match for Glasgow’s big man, senior Jackson Meyer, who posted a game-high 28 points on the night, 11 of which came in the first quarter.

Cropp said Meyer was primarily an outside shooter for his first two years and has developed a formidable inside game as an upperclassman.

“This year he’s just gotten bigger and stronger, and he’s a difficult matchup,” he said.

Fisher acknowledged the mismatch with Meyer as a significant factor in the Bulldogs’ struggles in the paint.

“He’s a really good player,” Fisher said. “I thought the one answer we might have for him was being able to get the game up and down and try to wear him down a little bit. But in order to get the game up and down, we had to make free throws, we had to make shots, we had to finish at the rim. And we didn’t do that. That allowed him and Glasgow to play at their pace. If you allow them to play at their pace, they’re hard to stop.”

For Glasgow, which had just played two fantastic quarters, the objective in the second half was simple: don’t turn the ball over.

“I didn’t have a lot to say at halftime. Basically, it was, are we going to be able to take care of the ball,” Cropp said. “Because you know Harrisburg is never going to stop coming at you. It was just a matter of us being able to take care of the ball. And we did it for the most part, except for that little stretch in the fourth quarter.”

Glasgow widened its lead by five points after three quarters, 53-33, and increased the margin in the final stanza. But Harrisburg rallied in the fourth quarter.

“It was like, now we can play loose, and we can be aggressive and just try some things,” Fisher explained. “We were already down 25, what’s a few more? Our guys started playing with a lot more confidence, and we kind of got the game in the pace more where we wanted it. And we were able to set our press.”

Despite the fourth-quarter surge, the deficit was too much for Harrisburg to overcome, and the two teams were separated by 14 points when the final buzzer sounded.

Cropp said that winning two games in a tournament steeped with some of the area’s best teams was an achievement. And the Jackets came close to winning three. A semifinal loss to eventual runner-up New Franklin in double overtime was the only black mark on an otherwise successful week. Glasgow did not shoot well against New Franklin, making it even more impressive that the Jackets battled through two overtimes despite falling by only four points on a night when they made just 12 of 28 free-throw chances.

“Winning two is important,” Cropp said. “This tournament is as deep with quality teams as it’s been in a long time. All the games have been pretty close.”

Cropp also said that he was eager to play Harrisburg, a perennially strong team that, despite the close proximity, the Jackets hadn’t faced since 2014.

“I was excited to play them because we haven’t played them in quite a while,” he said. “I really wanted to see how our kids were going to adapt to the pressure. We had a little bit of a struggle with it to begin the season. I was really pleased.”

Meyer’s 28 points led all scorers. Glasgow senior Bronson Foster added 13 points.

The Jackets get a few days to recharge before traveling to face Westran on Thursday, which swept last week’s tournament to improve to 5-0 on the season. The following night, Glasgow hosts Cairo, which was eliminated from the tournament with two straight losses. The Jackets remain home to host Pilot Grove on Dec. 16 for the final game of 2025. They open the new year at the Salisbury tournament starting on Jan. 5.

Harrisburg senior Rylee Robinson paced the Bulldogs with 14 points in Saturday’s game. The team got a boost from sophomore Evan Freeman, who added 12 points.

Despite some early struggles for the Bulldogs, who won district titles the two previous seasons, the two losses hardly define the young season for a team that boasts five straight winning seasons, loaded with postseason success.

“The end goal of the year is not to win the Glasgow tournament and see how many games we can win. The end goal is to play a tough schedule and build ourselves up for later so we’re playing our best basketball at the end of the year,” Fisher said. “We saw a lot of good things from some young guys who stepped up and had really bright spots this week. That’s encouraging to us going forward. We’re going to be as good as our young guys, and our inexperienced guys get. The flashes they showed this week tell me they’re going to get pretty good. That means we’re going to be pretty good.”

Harrisburg finishes off 2025 against three Class 4 teams. The first is a home game on Friday against Southern Boone. On Dec. 19, they host longtime area rival Hallsville, then travel to Mexico on Dec. 22 in the final game of the fall semester. The Bulldogs open 2026 at home on Jan. 3 against Lincoln, which finished fourth in the state a year ago.