Leading the Higbee Tigers in scoring is becoming a regular occurrence for Higbee’s Jordan Fuemmeler. The sophomore poured in 28 Saturday to once again lead the team to a 68-49 victory over Northwestern. This time the victory was for the Northwestern tournament championship.

With Higbee holding on to a 34-16 lead at halftime, Northwestern was able to score as many points (18) as Higbee in the third quarter, but that still left Higbee with an 18-point lead that proved insurmountable. 

“We forced 26 turnovers on Northwestern and that allowed us to turn our defense into offense. Our defensive energy has been really good, but I don't think we will be in game shape and giving our best defensive looks until January and that makes this team’s potential even higher,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. 

To go along with Fuemmeler’s 28 points, Derek Rockett scored 19.

To reach the final, the top-seeded Tigers had to get past the Keytesville Tigers, seeded eighth, which they did handily by a score of 106-13. 

Higbee put itself into the state record books with 41 first-quarter points equaling the 13th most points in Missouri State High School activities Association history for first-quarter points. Higbee scored 69 points in one half, which is now 14th all-time in the state. It’s total of 106 points on the game earned the 15 spot in state history.

Higbee finished the night with four players, sophomore Jordan Fuemmeler (32), sophomore Will  Spilman (30), senior Luke Ritter (14) and, sophomore Derek Rockett (13), in double figures to earn a trip to the next round.

In the Thursday night game, Higbee was able to only put up a little more than half of the points it scored in the earlier game, but still won handily, 60-44, over Meadville.

Higbee won the first three quarters of the game but was outscored 16-10 in the final stanza to hold on for the win. Fuemmeler continued to pace the Tigers with 21 points, followed by Rockett with 14, and Ritter with 13.