At Duff-Kingston Gymnasium in front of an overflowing crowd, the Bulldogs were “tough-enough.”

With top scorer and one of the teams' leaders Tyler Smithpeters on the bench after picking up his fifth personal foul with 3:15 to go in the contest, Harrisburg kept its composure.

The Bulldogs rallied from a 45-41 deficit with 1:31 to go when senior guard Kashmere Barners canned the biggest shot of his career with :20 left as the Bulldogs captured their second consecutive EHT crown, 46-45.

“Without a doubt that is a big shot (Barners' game-winner) and we made good decisions when we had to,” Coach Smithpeters said. “We might not be happy with the decisions we made for all 32 minutes but these games come down to every possession being important. We weren't perfect but we were close enough to win.”

Herrin had two shots at winning the game in the final seconds but both of Bobby Mannie's shots missed the mark.

Mannie had hit the game-winner in Tuesday nights quarterfinal win over Gallatin County but his two attempts in the lane from in close didn't fall.

Eli Taborn-Scott grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded and Harrisburg celebrated its second straight championship.

“One of the words we wrote on the board before the game was “tough” and we told them we won't win this game unless we're tough,” said Coach Smithpeters. “We were tough enough down the stretch to get it done. The guys played really hard and I'm happy for them.”

Smithpeters and tournament MVP Capel Henshaw shared top scoring honors with 13-points apiece in the defensive struggle while Taborn-Scott finished with seven.

Herrin was led by Demarlo Harris with 11-points, 10 of which came in the first half before foul trouble slowed the 6-foot-3 senior forward.

Getting good post position early in the game, Harris put his team on his broad shoulders with six first quarter points in the paint.

Harris hit his third consecutive shot with 1:25 remaining for a 13-12 Herrin lead.

But in this back-and-forth matchup between SIRR Ohio Division foes, Harrisburg answered each bell.

Taborn-Scott and Henshaw scored in the final minute with Henshaw canning a 15-footer from the right side for a 16-13 lead.

Harrisburg grabbed the momentum in the middle of the second quarter and appeared to be headed for a big scoring run.

Buckets by Henshaw and Smithpeters along with a fast break score from Ryne Roper gave the Bulldogs a 27-22 lead.

But a pair of three pointers in the quarter, first by Nathan Lukens early and then by DeShaun Hart with :34 remaining cut the Harrisburg halftime advantage to just 27-25.

The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the game late in the third quarter on baskets by Taborn-Scott and Barners along with a 3-pointer from Smithpeters.

Barners took a pass from Henshaw for a driving lay in and a 38-31 lead with 2:45 showing on the clock.

However Herrin responded with Mannie hitting a shot on a rebound and another Nathan Lukens 3-pointer, his second of the title game, cut the lead to just 39-36 at the end of three.

The first five minutes of the fourth quarter belonged to the Tigers and Coach Irv Lukens' squad looked championship bound with a 9-2 run for a 45-41 lead.

Herrin senior guard Alex Davis scored five of those points with a rebound basket to open the run and 1-of-2 free throws with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter.

Playing without Harris, who fouled out :09 after Smithpeters had been sent to the bench, the Tigers needed to just close out the game by taking care of the ball and hitting game-winning free throws.

Herrin did neither.

Mannie missed two free throws with 1:03 left and Harrisburg's Roper made them pay by draining a long 3-pointer just seconds later.

Herrin then committed a costly turnover when Harrisburg senior forward Caleb Goldman stepped into the passing lane and stole an errant pass.

After a Bulldog timeout, Henshaw drove the baseline and kicked the ball back out to Barners who found himself open near the foul line.

His jumper found the mark for a Bulldog lead.

“We want to use every game to get better. And this was an example of how games can make you better,” added Coach Smithpeters. “We had to play down the stretch against a very good team and were able to come through without Tyler out there.”

Herrin, in the confusion after the made basket, let nearly eight seconds eclipse off the clock before Coach Lukens could get a timeout called.

With one last chance to get the win, Mannie drove the lane and his first attempt missed.

But his momentum carried him right to where the ball came off the rim and the senior had an “in close” shot that looked good all the way until the end.

Taborn-Scott corralled the rebound and Harrisburg had its third EHT title and second in succession.

“I will take those two looks (Mannie shots) every game for a win. He had about a 10-footer and then about a four-footer by himself basically but it just didn't happen for us,” said Lukens. “Last night he hits the shot to win it but tonight he missed it. But it shouldn't have come down to that. That is the point I just made to them (the kids). We had the game in control. We missed free throws with under a minute left and then the turnover hurt us. We shouldn't have been in that situation.”

Both teams shot the ball pretty well while grinding out possessions.

Harrisburg finished 16-of-38 from the floor and hit 3-of-11 3's while Herrin was a bit better with a 17-of-34 overall mark.

The difference in the scoring was the foul line where Harrisburg made 11-of-19 while the Tigers were only 7-of-12.

Herrin won the rebounding battle 24-19 but lost the war to the defending titlist.

“This is a tough task (winning the EHT) and we had the number one target on our back. We're happy with the win and that's the kind of game you expect once you get to the final,” said Coach Smithpeters. “We're glad we could step up and get the job done.”

After Harris, the Tigers got nine points from Davis and eight points each from Nathan and Justin Lukens

“We played well at times, but we have to be tougher,” Lukens added.

Members of the 47th annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament were Henshaw and Smithpeters from Harrisburg; Mannie and Harris from Herrin; Cameron Ballard and Jerry Johnson, Meridian; Andrew Drone of Gallatin County; Lucas Weir of Eldorado; Kyle Holloman of Hardin County, Brady Wright, Anna-Jonesboro and Malcolm Amos of Massac County.
Cody Bailey of Fairfield won the Duff-Kingston Sportsmanship Award.