Hayti defeats Doniphan for school's first BCT title

Jerry Jarrell photo Bernie's Jake Smith (left) battles a Portageville player for a rebound during Saturday's fifth place game at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. Bernie defeated Portageville, 67-64.

BLOOMFIELD -- Hayti won its first ever Bloomfield Christmas Tournament championship and Puxico ended its improbable run with a lopsided loss to Malden in the third-place game on championship Saturday at the 51st edition of the annual holiday classic.

Top-seeded Hayti held off an upset minded Doniphan squad, 51-49, while Puxico fell behind early and never recovered against the Green Wave, the tournament's defending champions, and lost, 67-51. In the fifth place game, second seeded Bernie held off No. 9 Portageville, 67-64, while No. 13 Van Buren defeated No. 6 Twin Rivers, 71-62, in overtime to capture the consolation bracket title.

Third Place Game

Malden 67, Puxico 51

After the 12th seeded Indians knocked No. 5 Dexter and No. 4 Bloomfield to open the tournament, Puxico finished with losses to Hayti and Malden to take home fourth place honors.

Malden's quickness caught Puxico off guard to open the game and the Green Wave bolted to a quick 20-11 first quarter advantage.

Puxico was never able to recover, trailing 34-18 at the half, and 48-30 after three.

Puxico's David Crain dropped in 18 to lead the Indians, while John Smith netted 13.

Fifth Place Game

Bernie 67, Portageville 64

Bernie finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, but it was a disappointing run for the second seeded Mules, who lost to Malden, 73-70, in the second round.

The Mules bounced back to defeat Bloomfield, 53-46, before knocking off Portageville for fifth place.

Portageville hit more field goals than Bernie (28-21), but the Mules used eight 3-pointers and 17-25 shooting from the free throw line to pull out the win. Portageville only went to the charity stripe 10 times where they connected just three times.

Jake Owens paced the Mules offensively with 22 points, including four baskets from behind the arc and 4-of-5 free throws. Zach Curry knocked down three 3-pointers and was 7-of-8 from the foul line on his way to a 22-point night.