83rd Annual SCAA Tournament

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Kevin Hart fends off Bloomfield's Kyle Williamson while trying to retrieve the ball during SCAA tournament action Tuesday at Bloomfield. Bloomfield eliminated Dexter with a 53-49 win over the Bearcats.

Tuesday brought to an end the first round of the Stoddard County Activities Association (SCAA) tournament and left four teams in title contention in both the varsity and junior varsity brackets.

Bernie pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament on the varsity side when the No. 6 Mules knocked off No. 3 Advance, 73-61, while No. 4 Bloomfield eliminated No. 5 Dexter, 53-49.

In the jayvee bracket, the seeding held true as No. 1 Dexter clobbered No. 8 Richland, 62-18, and No. 3 Bloomfield rolled past No. 6 Bernie, 63-47.

The tournament will take Wednesday off before resuming Thursday with semifinal action.

On the varsity side, Bernie will square off against Bernie at 7 p. m., while Bell City will continue its quest for a third-straight SCAA title at 8:30 when the Cubs will take on host Bloomfield.

Junior varsity semifinal play will have Bell City going against Bloomfield in the first game of the day at 4 p. m., with Dexter match against Advance to follow at approximately 5:30.

Varsity

No. 6 Bernie 73, No. 3 Advance 61

A recent loss to Advance on their home court may have given the Mules a little extra incentive in their game against the Hornets.

On the strength of that 73-69 regular-season win, coach Joe Shoemaker's team earned the tournament's No. 3 seed. Advance's Jacob Bond scored a game-high 24 points in that win.

Bond again had a strong offensive effort with 20 points, and teammate David VanGennip added 18, but the Mules were not to be denied on this night.

"Every time I thought we were going to put them away they kept battling back," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "I thought our kids dug down and had some good defensive stands when we needed them most, however. They (Advance) did have a couple of small runs, but we did not allow them to continue the runs like we did the first time we played them. The kids did a good job of focusing on just being tough competitors and wanting to finish the game strong."

Bernie had four players score in double figures, led by Zach Curry's 18 points, and jumped on the Hornets early and led from the opening tip.

Jake Owens scored 14, while Silas Dill (9 rebounds) added 13 and Jake Welch (10 assists) contributed 10 in the Mules' victory.

"Puxico will be ready for us Thursday night," Botsch said of his team's next opponent. "It's often very tough to beat a good team twice in such a short time frame. I hope our kids will be up to the challenge."

Bernie (13-4) defeated Puxico, 79-60, at home in their last regular-season game before the conference tournament.

No. 4 Bloomfield 53, No. 5 Dexter 49

Bloomfield earned its second win of the season over Dexter after defeating the Bearcats, 61-60, earlier during the regular season.

Dexter led Bloomfield for most of the game and held a 40-37 advantage heading into the fourth quarter, but could only manage nine points over the final eight minutes.

"I was really please with how well we got down and guarded," Bloomfield coach Dustin Hick said after the game. "Our man-to-man has been kind of shaky over the season, it has just been inconsistent, and they (the players) were able to buckle down and guard for a half and really make it difficult for Dexter to get any good looks. Then we really contested some shots in the paint.

"We've been in these close games, and I know Dexter has too," Hick continued. "They (Dexter) have come up short a few times and those boys play so hard that you hate it for them. But at the same time, our boys have come out on the good end of a lot of those, so we feel pretty confident when we get in those close games."

After a 13-12 Dexter advantage at the end of the first period, the Bearcats carved out a 24-18 advantage with 3:12 remaining before the half on a basket by sophomore Ben Mills. A basket by Corey Smith with 20 second remaining helped the Wildcats cut the deficit to 27-22 at the break.

Drew Kelley (10 points) scored the first four points of the third period as Dexter took its biggest lead of the game at 31-22 with less than one minute gone from the first period clock. Bloomfield began to close the gap on Dexter, but could never wrestle the lead. Kyle Rogers hit his only basket of the game with 32 second remaining in the third to cut the lead to one (38-37), but Kevin Hart (15 points) answered off a good assist from David Hessling to put the 'Cats up three with eight minutes to play.

Bloomfield wasted little time overtaking the Bearcats, opening the fourth period on a 7-0 run for a 44-40 lead. Dexter never recovered and finished the fourth period hitting just 3-of-18 shots from the field down the stretch.

Dexter, struggling from the field, clawed its way back to within one (50-49) on two free throws by Bobby Rawson with less than a minute to play.

Dexter forced a quick turnover, but missed on a 3-point attempt, and Bloomfield gathered in the long rebound. The Wildcats quickly pushed the ball up court and Smith finished the rush for a 3-point advantage.

With time running out, Dexter turned the ball over and fouled Blake Harris who connected on one of two free throws to set the final score, after a desperation 3-point attempt by the Bearcats failed.

"I wish the boys would approach every game and play like they do against Dexter," Hicks said. "It seems like some nights we come out flat against other teams, but they seem to get up every night for Dexter. Hopefully it's the beginning of a good rivalry. I know it has been lopsided over the recent years, but hopefully this is the beginning of something that will be good for all of us for the rest of the year."

Senior Kyle Williamson finished with a game-high 18 points and had Bloomfield's only 3-pointer of the game.

Junior Varsity

Dexter 62, Richland 18

Jon Bowman hit three 3-points and scored a game-high 18 points and teammate Sawyer smith scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half as the No. 1 seed Bearcats rolled over Richland.

Richland, which before the tournament was sure if it was going to be able to field a jayvee team, only had five players for the game.

Dexter also got 10 points from Ryan Windham, nine from Brandon Stoker and eight from Gary Summers.

Richland was led by Zach Pope with 7 and Lloyd Barr with six.

Bloomfield 63, Bernie 47

Seth Hill knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 18 points as the jayvee Wildcats advanced to a semifinal showdown against No. 2 Bell City.

Dalton McClard also scored in double figures for the Wildcats with 13 points, while Cody Redcloud chipped in with nine. Dylan Bader and Jordan Sperino contributed eight and seven points, respectively.

Ryan Kleffer poured in 20 points for Bernie to lead all players offensively. Jeremy Walker found the range for 10 points, but on this night Bloomfield was too much for the Mules.

Bloomfield opened with a 15-5 first period advantage and increased the lead to 30-12 at the half.