Bernie had six players score in double figures as the Mules defeated North Pemiscot, 106-45, in a laugher on the road Tuesday.

Zach Curry's 20 points led the Mules, while teammates Jake Owens and Jake Smith each netted 16. Silas Dill chipped in with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Jake Welch and Quinton Stevens scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

It was the sixth win for the Mules against one loss this season. Bernie will be the No. 2 seed at the upcoming Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

"We played well at times," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "I thought we rebounded the ball better and made their zone really work to find the ball. "Our kids are pretty unselfish, so we kept moving the ball until we found the open man," Botsch added. "We rotated a lot of kids in tonight, so everyone got a lot of floor time.

"We still have a lot of work to do to get ready for the Christmas tournament," he continued. "I hope the kids will be ready to practice and have a great showing at Bloomfield."

Bernie is currently ranked No. 7 in Class 2 in a poll by the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportcasters Association.

Kelly 66,

Puxico 55

KELLY -- The Kelly Hawks were able to stop a second half run by the Puxico Indians Tuesday night, to pull out their second victory of the season, 66-55.

The Hawks managed to lead for most of the game. But, the Indians made a charge during the second half, especially during the third period.

Kelly went into the locker room at half time with a fairly comfortable, 39-26 lead. Puxico was able to go on a 7-0 run to start the second half cutting the lead to 39-33. Eventually, the Indians went on to outscore Kelly, 18-11 during the entire third quarter. Which made the score 50-44 in Kelly's favor going into the final period.

Two baskets by Puxico early in the fourth made it a two point game. That would be as close as the Indians could get. Kelly then went on a run of there own to put the lead to eight, with three and a half minutes left to play. The Hawks outscored Puxico 16-11 during the fourth, to lead them on the way to the win.

Puxico's Josh Smith led both teams in scoring with 21 points. J Hon added 10 points as well.

East Prairie 73,

Bloomfield 68

BLOOMFIELD -- The East Prairie Eagles were able to hang on to a slim lead Tuesday night, as they went on to defeat the Bloomfield Wildcats in a close one, 73-68.

The Eagles were able to rely on M.C. William's season-high 29 points against the Wildcats. Williams also hit five 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-4 from behind the free throw line. The Eagles were 5-15 from the free throw line.

Tony Jones also added 18 points to the Eagles total.

Kyle Williamson led the Wildcats with 21 points, followed by Leighton Hennsley's 18 points. Williamson also hit two 3-pointers and was 5-9 from the line.

East Prairie will be participating in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament Dec. 26. The number 14 seed Eagles will take on the number three seed Doniphan Dons at 12:30 p.m.

Sikeston 59, Perryville 28

PERRYVILLE -- The Sikeston Bulldogs scored early and often against Perryville Tuesday night and rolled to a 59-28 win.

"We came out with good intensity," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. "We've been spending some time on our half-court defense and I think it is starting to improve a little bit. We've got work to do, but the players are working hard with a good attitude and I thought tonight we had some carryover from our practices."

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter and led 41-10 at the half, prompting Holifield to substitute liberally in the second half.

"We have players that work hard and we had a lot of players get valuable minutes tonight which will help them in practice and other game situations so from that aspect it was very valuable," Holifield said.

Sikeston (7-1) was led in scoring by Michael Porter's 16 points. He also pulled down six rebounds and had four blocks and three steals. Matt Ritch finished with nine points and three steals and three assists. Scott Droddy came off the bench to grab five rebounds.

Perryville was led by Brent Roth's eight points.

New Madrid 73,

Blytheville 61

By David Jenkins

SEMO News Service

NEW MADRID -- After Friday's loss to the Doniphan Dons, New Madrid County Central coach Travis Day called a meeting and challenged his team. On Tuesday night, the Eagles answered that challenge.

NMCC outplayed Blytheville, Ark., for 30 minutes Tuesday night and held off a furious rally late to post a 73-61 win.

"That's our best game of the year," said NMCC coach Travis Day. "I've been telling our guys that our mindset is our weakness and I just challenged the guys. I told them 'No more. We either step up to all these challenges or we're not.' Tonight we fought."

NMCC's Josh Minner, who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds said the team wanted to step up against Blytheville.

"I think we played exceptionally well because these past couple of games we've been playing like don't know each other and weren't playing together as a team," Minner said. "We had a meeting earlier about us needing to step up and today I just tried to redeem myself to make up for all those other games."

Minner and the Eagles never trailed the entire game, building a 17-point lead late in the first half, but Blytheville wouldn't go away. Down 65-53 with 1:43 left in the game, the Chickasaws' Gabriel Osagie was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit two-of-three free throws cutting the lead to 65-55. Then, in a frenzied series of events that saw NMCC turn the ball over four times, Blytheville cut the lead to 65-61 after an Osagie layup with 1:09 left to play in the game.

"Blytheville is a good team and I knew they were going to make a run sooner or later," said Day. "I think we also helped on that run by making some careless passes. But they're a good team and they aren't going to lay down for anybody and they showed it."

With the lead cut to four, Blytheville coach David Hixson called time out, giving the Eagles time to regroup.

"Probably the thing I did that I probably shouldn't have was call timeout," Hixson said. "I wasn't aware that they didn't have any when we got those two or three turnovers in a row and that let them get their wits about them and get back into their press offense."

After the time out, the Eagles turned the ball over again, but NMCC's Dontre Jenkins rebounded a Blytheville miss and was fouled. Jenkins hit one-of-two free throws and then grabbed his own offensive rebound, feeding Kony Ealy for an easy basket, giving the Eagles 68-61 lead and the Chickasaws could never get closer.

"This game right here shows people that we can really play with a really good team and that we can beat anybody when we get our mind right," Minner said.

The difference for the Eagles was the first half. After jumping out to an 18-12 lead after one quarter, NMCC stretched the lead to 39-22 after a basket and a free throw from Josh Minner.

"The first half we played like we practice and that's what I tell the kids. I say 'why go practice hard when we can't bring that to the game?'" Day said. "We got after it (in practice) yesterday and that momentum came over to the game for us. We got up, we got pressure on them and made them all handle it. We're still letting them get into the paint too much for my eyes but the effort was there."

Hixson said NMCC's physical play was the difference in the first half.

"Obviously we just got whipped in the first half," Hixson said. "They just came out with a little more giddy-up than us and a little bit more inspired and kind of took it to us in the first half. From then it was an uphill battle."

The Eagles dominated the glass for most of the game, outrebounding Blytheville 34-26. The Chickasaws had only 14 rebounds after three quarters.

"That is what we talked about," Day said. "Offensively I should have three guys crashing the boards hard and then defensively five guys boxing out and hitting the boards and we did that. I'm proud of the guys."

"It comes down to the little things and I thought they did an exceptional job coming up with what we call effort points," Hixson said. "They got a lot of offensive rebounds, stick backs and loose balls in the first half. The second half I thought we did a better job of that. But we dug ourselves a hole."

NMCC (3-5) was led by Minner's 21 while Justin Beasley scored 15 points. Ealy finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Blytheville (5-2) was led by Osagie's 22 points and Ojay Cullins 17 points.

Up next for NMCC is the Dyersburg Tournament which begins Dec. 27.

"We're getting close," Day said. "We still have long way to go to be an exceptional team, but we showed signs of where we can get to. When you can beat Blytheville by 10 points the potential is there."