When it comes to the National Trail Conference Tournament, what two teams do against each other in earlier meetings oftentimes becomes meaningless.

Six weeks ago, the St. Anthony Bulldogs had no trouble rolling to a 61-31 win over St. Elmo/Brownstown.

Tuesday night’s quarterfinal round game of the NTC Tourney was much different.

Yes, the favored Bulldogs still advanced, but it was far from easy.

The Bombers led early and kept it close the entire game before falling 51-45.

SEB led 10-9 after the opening eight minutes, but the Bulldogs came back to take a 20-17 advantage at halftime. St. Anthony then outscored the Bombers 18-11 in the third quarter to build a double-digit margin, 38-28, heading into the final period.

Cade Schaub connected on two three-pointers and scored eight points to help the Bombers get within four late in the contest. But the Bulldogs went 7-for-12 from the foul line, which was enough to maintain the lead and secure the win.

The Bombers, who are now 14-6 on the season, got 17 points from Adam Atwood, 11 from Schaub and 10 from Caleb Cambell.

Collin Westendorf led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Ryan Schmidt added 11.

St. Anthony, the No. 3 seed, improved to 16-8 on the season.

In other tournament action Tuesday night, top-seeded Altamont beat No. 8 Neoga 67-55; No. 5 Dieterich knocked off No. 4 Windsor/Stew-Straws 60-46; and No. 2 seed North Clay rallied from 13 points down in the second half to beat No. 7 South Central 57-53.

Due to the heavy snowfall, tournament games were cancelled for Wednesday.

Thursday’s schedule is – Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City will play South Central at 5 p.m.; Neoga will face WSS at 6:30 p.m.; and Altamont will play Dieterich at 8 p.m. in a semifinal contest.

There are two games scheduled for Friday. The winner of the CHBC/South Central game will play SEB at 6:15; and St. Anthony and North Clay will clash in a semifinal game at 7:45 p.m. The Cardinals beat the Bulldogs 53-49 in the conference opener for both teams in late November.