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"For the first time all year, we came out flat with no emotion, no intensity and not ready to play," Hartbarger said. "You can't do that against a team as good as Andrews. Their zone bothered us as we didn't shoot well, but our defensive effort was not like it's been all year."
Baxter opened the game with consecutive three-pointers, but SM scored seven straight, including six by Bell, to lead 7-6 with 3:34 left in the opening stanza.
Curtis Wilson drained a trey at the 3:01 mark putting the Wildcats ahead for good 9-7. They led 13-9 at the quarter break.
Baxter converted back-to-back three-point plays extending the margin to 21-8 with 6:41 left in the half.
A follow shot by Michael Ritchie with three minutes to play cut the gap to 25-18.
Andrews maintained a 31-22 advantage at intermission.
Allen Sutton opened the second half with two free throws bringing SM within 31-24.
The Wildcats responded with an 11-1 run, including four by Creasman, for a 42-26 lead with 5:42 on the clock.
A 10-1 spurt moments later pushed the margin to 52-28 at the 1:56 mark. Creasman had eight of those points and capped the run by making three of four free throws following a personal foul and a technical on the Mustang bench.
Andrews led 56-36 entering the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats scored the final period's first nine points, including six by Creasman, for the biggest margin of 65-36 with 6:20 to play.
Bell hit six field goals and seven of 10 free throws.
Jake Day and Jeff Davis both finished with seven points, Sutton followed with six, Jared Day netted five, Lance Gabbard and Sam Neff both scored three, Ritchie had two, and Silas Webb and Justin Roper each hit a free throw.
Polk 71 SM 61
Polk used deadly three-point shooting early in the second half to seize control and held on for a 71-61 win in Friday's semifinals.
Johnny Hayes scored 21 points for the Wildcats. Josh Harbison and Daniel Waters both had 14 points while Tyler Patterson added 12.
Roper led the Mustangs with 19 points. Also in double figures were Sutton with 12 and Gabbard with 11.
"We didn't match up well with them," Hartbarger said. "We went with five guards to get us back in the game. We let them dictate to us what kind of tempo we were going to play. For the first time this year, a press bothered us. We had a great effort in the fourth quarter to come back."
The Wildcats made five three-pointers in the first half, but that was nothing compared to what they did in the first four minutes of the third quarter. In that span, they made four treys and hit three free throws after a foul on a three-point attempt to account for all the points in a 15-2 run.
Patterson and Waters both had two treys in the spurt. Patterson's three gave his team the lead for good, 28-26, with 7:07 on the clock. Waters' three capped the run making it 40-28 at the 4:01 mark.
Roper's three-pointer cut the gap to 44-38 with 1:59 left in the quarter, which ended with Polk leading 49-41.
Gabbard's follow shot capped an 8-1 run narrowing the deficit to 60-57 with 1:33 to play. SM trailed 64-61 after Sutton's driving layup with 40 seconds left but failed to score again.
Polk made seven free throws in the final 33.5 seconds.
The Mustangs overcame a 5-0 deficit to lead 11-8 at the end of the first quarter following baskets by Roper and Neff.
Roper's 15-footer gave SM a 16-8 advantage with 7:30 to go in the half.
Consecutive three-pointers by Harbison and Hayes brought Polk within 22-21 with 1:31 on the clock.
The Mustangs led 26-25 at intermission.
Roper made eight field goals, including a three-pointer, and two foul shots. Sutton hit five field goals, including a trey, and a free throw. Gabbard connected on five field goals and a foul shot.
Davis and Jonas Glaser both scored five points, Jared Day followed with four, Ritchie finished with three and Neff had two.
SM 63 Pendleton 48
The Mustangs started the tournament by knocking off Pendleton 63-48 last Thursday.
Bell led the way with 17 points while Sutton had 13 and Roper scored 11.
Jason Herbert netted 19 points for the Bulldogs.
"It was the best game we played in the tournament," Hartbarger said. "Our zone trap worked well, and we got some turnovers from our fullcourt press. We had a real good defensive effort from everybody."
The game was close early, but Bell and Gabbard scored the last two baskets of the first quarter putting SM up 12-8.
Nine straight points, including five by Roper, opened the margin to 27-17 when Sutton hit two free throws with 4:07 to go in the second period.
The Mustangs failed to score the rest of the half, but Pendleton managed just four points leaving SM up 27-21 at intermission.
SM broke the game open by outscoring the Bulldogs 13-2 in the last two and a half minutes of the third stanza for a 46-30 lead. Glaser had five in the run.
Sutton's follow shot with 6:15 on the clock extended the margin to 50-32.
Five points by Andrew Williams fueled a 9-2 run cutting the gap to 52-41 at the 4:15 mark, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would come.
The game's biggest lead was 63-44 when Kyle Clayton scored with 1:27 on the clock.
Bell made seven field goals and three free throws. Sutton connected on four field goals and five foul shots. Roper hit three field goals, including a three-pointer, and four free throws.
Michael Ritchie finished with seven points, Gabbard followed with six, Glaser scored five and Clayton had four.
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