CLARKTON, Mo. -- The Gosnell Pirates and the Clarkton Reindeer had met once already this season. The result? A 40-point beatdown in which Gosnell hardly broke a sweat.

Gosnell walked its way into the finals of the Clarkton Christmas Invitational by demolishing Risco and Gideon while the Reindeer won a heartstopper over Richland just to win their pool.

So, with all these things considered you would think there was no way Clarkton had any chance right?

Think again.

The host Reindeer walked away from the Clarkton Christmas Invitational as champions for the second year in a row Friday night with a thrilling 73-64 victory. This was once again thanks in large part to the trio of Dustin Ferguson, Casey Redden and Justin Brown who were responsible for 70 percent of Clarkton's scoring on the night with their combined 51 points.

The final was not the only good game of the night, however. Risco defeated Holcomb in the fifth-place game 65-63, while Richland beat Gideon with a free throw with 0.4 seconds to play to claim third place with a 63-62 win.

As things got started in the title game, Clarkton jumped out to an early 9-4 lead after a Dustin Ferguson 3-pointer from the wing found the mark,, forcing Gosnell to call timeout. However, Gosnell then went on a 12-5 scoring run to close out the first period with a 16-14 lead.

Athletic swingman Justin Brown took center stage in the second quarter by slashing to the basket and finishing strong as he tossed in 10 of his 17 points on the night in the second quarter. Thanks to Brown, and a 7-for-9 effort in the period from the free-throw line, Clarkton took a 29-28 lead into halftime.

However, as phenomenal as the trio was, the third quarter was time for the seniors to be seniors. Tolby Richardson sent the almost all-Clarkton crowd into a frenzy with a pair of trey to kick off the second half as it became obvious that 'Deer and their faithful could smell the upset.

Also, Richardson was joined by senior classmates Devaris Parker and DeAngelo White in leading a relentless defensive effort. It seemed obvious that the gameplan all night for the undersized Reindeer was to simply run the Pirates big men until they wore down as they scored many of their points in transition.

Although it may not have been as pretty as the route Clarkton was taking, Gosnell matched them point for point with many of them coming from the free-throw line, as the game was tied at 52 going into the final quarter. The Pirates were led offensively by junior point guard Ethan Bryant who knocked down jump shot after jump shot on his way to a 20-point night.

As the final period began, the Tri-County Conference's best player simply would not let Clarkton lose as Ferguson tossed in 10 points in the period while drawing contact in the lane and getting the shot to go which resulted in Gosnell's best defender, 6-foot-5 Harrison Hughes, fouling out. This traditional three-point play gave Clarkton a five-point lead with a minute to play and put the icing on the cake of one of the best team efforts in recent memory.

Ferguson led the Reindeer with 21 points on the night. Joining Ferguson in double figures for Clarkton were Brown with 17 points and Redden with 13, while Richardson finished with eight and fellow seniors White and Parker added eight and six, respectively.

Hughes and Arthur Parnell added 14 apiece for the Pirates.

The Reindeer are off until January 4 when they travel to Cooter for a key Tri-County Conference contest.