The Higbee boys’ high-octane style of play was too much for Southwest-Livingston in the semi-finals of the Keytesville Tournament on Thursday night. The Tigers won 83-33 to advance to Saturday’s finals against rival Wellsville-Middletown.

“That’s just how we play and that’s the mentality of the team,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “It’s really fun right now if you’re a Higbee fan because you’re seeing some pretty impressive stuff happening.”

Higbee opened Thursday’s game against Southwest with a 15-4 run over the first four minutes of the game. Sophomore Jordan Fuemmeler scored 16 of his 33 points in the first quarter, with back-to-back threes with under two minutes to play. The Tigers went up 26-10 after eight minutes and expanded their lead to 48-19 by halftime. 

Higbee’s high-pressure defense held the Wildcats to just three field goals in the second quarter. 

But Southwest didn’t go away without a fight. Big man Remington Woodcock showed he could shoot from distance with a pair of 3-pointers early in the third quarter. But the effort would only cut the lead to 25. Higbee’s offense added 23 more points to the scoreboard to put the game out of reach.

Southwest was held to just one point, a free throw by freshman Kolt Neptune, with 2:44 left in the final quarter. 

Fuemmeler single-handedly matched Southwest’s scoring total with 33 points. “Jordan is feeling it right now. He’s efficient and is getting after it. We’ve seen improvements and he was pretty good last year, too. When you see kids continue to grow and develop and improve, it’s pretty special.”

Fellow sophomore Derek Rockett banked 18 of his team’s 83 points on the night. “Any time you win by 50 it’s a good night,” he said.

Senior Malaki Squires rounded out Higbee’s double-digit scoring with 14 points. He sank five of six field-goal attempts and knocked down one of four 3-point shots.

High-percentage sharpshooting has been a goal of the Higbee scoring leaders this season. Fuemmeler set a goal to be a 40-percent 3-point shooter. “As a sophomore that’s insane,” Burton said. 

So far, Fuemmeler and Derek Rockett have made 36% of their shots from beyond the arc. “When you’re shooting that high of a clip in Class 1 basketball, that’s pretty dangerous,” said Burton.

“When you have that combination where they put in the work and the time, you get the result you get,” Burton said. “I think that’s really special because…you’re seeing kids who have put in thousands of hours and you’re seeing the end result. If this isn’t a message to every kid in any small town, I don’t know what it is.”

Fuemmeler made two of nine 3-point attempts, while Rockett was one-for-eight from the arc on Thursday.

The 50-point victory advances Higbee to the tournament finals on Saturday against rival Wellsville. The two played twice a year ago with Wellsville winning both—by three at Higbee, and by seven during the semi-finals of last year’s Keytesville Tournament. The Class 2 Wellsville Tigers went on to win the tournament a year ago before winning their district and making it to the Class 2 state quarterfinals a year ago.

This year, Wellsville dropped back to Class 1 and sits in District 10 alongside Higbee. 

Higbee’s record remains perfect with 18 wins and no losses. Wellsville-Middletown enters Saturday’s tournament final with a record of 11-4.

Fuemmeler said that while making the finals of the Keytesville Tournament feels good, getting a shot at Wellsville before the district tournament is what has his team motivated. “That’s really what we want. We want a good look at them because the end of the year is really all we care about. Getting a good look at Wellsville and seeing what they’ve got and seeing how we can change our game plan for the end of the year.”

Tipoff is at 3 p.m. Saturday.