Upsets claim Bernie, Bloomfield

Bloomfield's Leighton Hensley (No. 21, above) goes high in the air in an attempt to block the scoring drive of Puxico's John Smith.

BLOOMFIELD - Upsets are becoming as common as the opening tip-off at the 51st Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament with the number of higher seeded teams to fall reaching six after Thursday's second day of action.

Defending champion Malden pulled off the biggest shocker when the No. 7 Green Wave knocked off No. 2 Bernie, 73-70, in the eighth and final game of the day. Puxico became the only SCAA team to reach the semifinals when the No. 7 Indians knocked off a second straight higher seeded opponent when they tripped up No. 4 Bloomfield, 69-53.

Joining Malden and Puxico in the semifinals are No. 1 Hayti, which had no trouble with No. 9 Portageville, winning 69-50, and No. 3 Doniphan crushed No. 11 South Pemiscot, 79-40.

Bernie's Jake Welch (right) dives for a loose ball being gathered in by Malden's Chad Hudson (No. 11) during second-day action at the 51st Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Today's championship semifinal pairings will see Puxico looking to make it three straight upsets against Hayti at 7 p. m., while Malden takes on Doniphan in a 8:30 p. m. rematch of the two teams that have reached the tournament's title game the past two years

In consolation bracket action Thursday, No. 5 Dexter lost to No. 13 Van Buren, 68-56, to lose its first two games and make its quickest exit from the tournament since 1992. Number 6 Twin Rivers defeated No. 14 East Prairie, 71-62, No. 10 Kennett whipped helpless No. 15 Greenville, 84-35, and No. 8 Richland clobbered No. 16 East Carter, 64-28.

Richland will take on Van Buren at 1 p. m., while Kennett and Twin Rivers will tangle at 2:30. In the 5th place bracket, Portageville and Bloomfield to tip off at 4 p. m. while South Pemiscot and Bernie will take to the court at 5:30.

Dexter starters Kevin Hart (No. 45, left picture) and Bobby Rawson (No. 10) watch from the bench as the final seconds of the Bearcats' loss to No. 13 Van Buren tick off the scoreboard clock. Dexter, seeded No. 5, lost its first two games to make its quickest exit from the Christmas tournament since 1992.

Malden 73, Bernie 70

Marvin Fields hit his only field goal of the game with 34 second remaining in regulation to give the Green Wave a 71-70 lead, and Jake Owens' free-throw line jumper with time running out missed the mark as Malden moved one step closer to defending its BCT title.

Bernie trailed throughout the game until Silas Dill's two free throws with 1:33 to play pushed the Mules out front, 70-69.

On Malden's ensuing possession, a loose ball produced a mad scramble and the Green Wave came up with it to set Fields up for the winning mid-range jumper.

Bernie called a time-out and got the play they wanted when Owens, who had scored 24 points, got off a pull-up jumper that went off the rim. Zech Payne hit two free throws with four second remaining to produce the 3-point win.

"We were a little disappointed in a couple of areas, and we didn't feel like we play well in the first half at all," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said after the game. "We tried six different defenses and couldn't get the kids to play any of them.

"I'm just really surprised that we weren't motivated to come out and play harder that we were," Botsch continued. "Malden is a rival and we knew they come gunning for us. I just didn't feel like we were motivated to play well. We had a couple of guys we needed to step up and be leaders tonight (Thursday) and they didn't play well and we didn't have them on the floor a whole lot because we felt like some of the other guys were getting after it better.

"If you don't play hard in a match up - if you have one guy that loafs - you are going to get scored on every time," he continued. "We had a couple of guys that were loafing in the match up, a good team like Malden is going to beat you."

Chad Hudson's 20 points paced Malden offensively while Burton Leonard added 14.

In addition to Owens' 24, Dill was the only other Mule in double figures with 16.

To Bernie's credit, the Mules battled back from double digit deficits on several occasion when the Green Wave threaten to pull away.

"If you take anything positive out of this loss it is the fact that we did battle back and we didn't quit," Botsch said of his 7-2 team. "We found a way to tie the game, but still yet, we feel like we could have done a better job in three quarters. We basically played one quarter. Other that that, our effort was just not good enough to get the job done to move on to a semifinal game."

Puxico 69, Bloomfield 53

After defeating No. 5 Dexter to open the tournament, Puxico knocked off its second higher seeded team with a win over the No. 4 Wildcats.

Puxico trailed by two after the first quarter, but used a 19-9 advantage in the second to take charge of the game. Bloomfield cut into the lead in the third, but a late surge by the Indians in the fourth iced the upset win.

"We didn't hold the ball," first-year Puxico coach Josh Dowdy said. "We looked for the cutter and flashed to the ball and shot a lot of lay-up and I thought that was the key in the fourth quarter."

Puxico again got balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Kerry McClure's 16 points led the way, with J Hon added three 3-pointers (8 for the tournament) on his way to 15 points, while David Crain chipped in with 14 and John Smith netted 11.

Puxico (7-3) connected on six 3-pointers to give them 16 for the tournament.

The win set up a showdown against top-seeded Hayti, a team that has yet to be tested.

"Any time you play the No. 1 seed you are going to have a challenge on your hands," Dowdy said when asked about the next game. "But we're up for the challenge. We really haven't had a lot of respect from anyone all year long and we're still trying to prove how good of team we are.

"I have five seniors on this team and they just don't want to lose," he pointed out. "They are a competitive bunch and you can't teach that. I'm just glad to be around them.

"We don't look at the seeds," Dowdy continued. "We just come to practice very day trying to get better. We wanted to have a good showing at this Christmas Tournament and obviously play that late game on Saturday night. But our goal is to get us another district championship. This is just a building block, everything else is just icing on the cake. But don't get me wrong, we have plans on winning this tournament."

Consolation Games

Van Buren 68, Dexter 56

For the first time since 1992, the Dexter Bearcats lost their first two games of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. Van Buren, the No. 13 seed, jumped out to a 21-10 first quarter lead and held off the Bearcats for a 68-56 win in the consolation quarterfinals.

Van Buren was led in scoring by Jack Heiberg's 18. Brandon Tucker and Tyler Freeze each finished with 12 points apiece.

Dexter was led by Kevin Hart's 14. Drew Kelley and David Hessling each put in 11 points apiece.

Twin Rivers 71, East Prairie 62

The No. 14 seed East Prairie Eagles had upset on their mind when they tied the game at 52 early in the fourth quarter of a consolation quarterfinal. However, a quick 12-2 run from the No. 6 seed Royals put the game away.

Twin Rivers was led in scoring by Kyle Oberkramer who had 21 points. Kenny Johnson and Dylan Stockton scored 16 and 12 points respectively.

Tony Jones led East Prairie with 21 points. M.C. Williams scored 15, all on 3-pointers.

Kennett 84, Greenville 35

The Kennett Indians cruised into the consolation semifinals by pounding Greenville 84-35.

Kennett was led by Jarvis Finley's 20 points while Randrick Caruthers and Tevin Hampton each had 15.

Corey Keel led Greenville with 10.

Richland 64, East Carter 28

The Richland Rebels rebounded from a tough opening round loss to Portageville by breezing past East Carter County 64-28.

Richland was led by Mikey Latham who had a game-high 18 points. Nick Harris and Drew Thornton added 13 and 10 respectively.

Derek Miller led East Carter with 12.