Much anticipated championship games disappoint

Jerry Jarrell photo Puxico's J Hon (No. 11) drives the lane before dumping a pass off during the SCAA tournament's title game with Bell City Friday at Bloomfield. Bell City won its third straight tournament title with a 62-32 win over the Indians

BLOOMFIELD - A week of tournament basketball building towards the highly anticipated climax of two championship games was anything but fulfilling at the 83rd Annual SCAA Tournament at Bloomfield Friday.

Stoddard County basketball fans witnessed two of the most lopsided championship games in the storied history of the conference's tournament as No.1 Bell City destroyed No. 2 Puxico, 62-32, and the No. 1 Dexter Bearcats, who may have set a record for the largest margin of victory, annihilated No. 2 Bell City 71-25 in the junior varsity finale.

The tournament's program guide goes back to 1965 and reveals that Bell City's 30-point varsity win ties for third, matching Dexter's 69-39 win over Advance in 2005. Dexter's 77-40 win over Richland in 2000 stands as the most one-sided varsity final.

Bell City's Jeff Long (No. 30) anticipates the impending fall after getting tangled up with Dexter's Sawyer Smith (No. 33) in transition during the Bearcats' 71-25 win in the junior varsity championship game.

On the jayvee side, Dexter's 46-point margin of victory sets a new standard, eclipsing Advance's 42-point victory over Richland in 1973 (67-42).

If fans got to the gymnasium early enough, they did see one exciting game as No. 6 Bernie held on down the stretch to defeat No. 4 Bloomfield, 89-85, in the third-place varsity game. The third-place jayvee title was also a mismatch as No. 3 Bloomfield dismantled No. 5 Advance, 62-38, to open championship Friday action.

Varsity Championship

Bell City 62, Puxico 32

Senior Nick Niemczyk had his second straight 30-point plus game and the Cubs knocked down 10 3-pointers and completely dominated Puxico to capture the school's third-straight SCAA tournament championship.

"Our seniors just wanted to go out with a bang," Niemczyk said after the game. "We always look forward to it (the tournament). It's fun every year.

"We haven't played very good lately and I think this may have gotten us back on track," he continued. "I want to give most of the credit to Marty Dames. He got a lot of loose ball and got the ball to me."

Bell City's pressure defense handcuffed Puxico from the start. Kerry McClure connected for a trey to give Puxico a 5-3 lead with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter but the basket was the last for the Indians in the period as a Niemczyk 3-pointer with only seconds to play pushed the Cubs out front, 14-5.

Things went down hill from there as Niemczyk added 12 points to his total in the second to single handily outscore Puxico as the Cubs exploded for 21 points and a commanding 35-13 advantage at the break.

"Ball pressure is a big part of what we do," Bell City coach Brain Brandtner commented after the win. "We're little. We're a small team. Our tallest starter is six-foot, maybe six-foot-one, so for us to be successful we have to put pressure on the basketball."

Bell City had no trouble closing out the game with an 18-6 advantage in the third, a result of the team's experience, according to Brandtner.

"Our guys were real fired up about the game," Bell City's coach stated. "I have a lot of seniors that have been in a lot of big games. When you get into a championship of a tournament at Bloomfield, where the stands are packed, having that big-game experience really, really helps and I think that showed tonight (Friday). We've got big time players, with big-game experience and that really showed."

For Puxico, it was a nightmarish ending to what had been a successful run.

"We tried to come out and establish ourselves offensively because we knew we couldn't run with them because it is very difficult to play defense in transition," a disappointed Dowdy said. "We had our match up established, but when you're in transition, it's the first guy down the floor that has to pick up Niemczyk and Watkins. We weren't able to do that because of their defensive pressure and they just took us completely out of our offense.

"I looked up at the score at about the four minute mark and it was like 2-2 and I was real proud of where we were at, but you know, a few 3s and some lack of composure on our part, opened up the game for them. The rest was a snowball effect," Dowdy added.

"I don't think we're going to beat them one way or the other tonight," he continued. " When you're knocking down that many 3's, we weren't going to win the game, but I wish it would have been a little more respectable. But the community of Puxico, I feel like, should be proud of those eight guys because they battled all week. We fulfilled our second seed, and I think it's a lot to build on to establish our main goal and that's a district championship."

Niemczyk finished the game with 34 points to give his 85 for the tournament. He scored 36 in the Cubs' semifinal win over Bloomfield Thursday night.

Junior Varsity Championship

Dexter 71, Bell City 25

Dexter's junior varsity win in the title game was even more one-sided than the varsity's championship game.

Things appeared to be shaping up for a competitive contest after an 18-11 first quarter lead that Dexter forged behind three 3-pointers.

Both teams struggled to find points early in the second period. Brandon Stoker's 3-pointer pushed the score to 22-11 before 7'1" Skylor Blackler (8 points) connected on the front end of a two-shot foul, then grabbed his own miss and scored to make it 22-14.

From there the complexion of the game quickly changed. Dexter poured in 12 points while blanking the Cubs for the remainder of the period to make it a 20-point game (34-14) at the half.

Stoker's trey opened the scoring in the third (37-14) and a Ryan Windham steal and layup quickly pushed the Bearcats' lead to 39-14.

Jeff Long answered with a 3-pointer for Bell City, but it would be the last points for the Cubs for over six minutes. When the smoke had cleared, Dexter was up, 50-21 with eight minutes to play.

Dexter coach Shawn Guethle continued to rotate players from the bench, but the 'Cats still racked up a 21-4 advantage in the fourth for the 46-point win.

Dexter finished with 11 3-pointers. Jon Bowman hit four in the second half to finish with five and a game-high 19 points.

Stoker hit two treys and finished with 13 points, while Gary Summers hit all four of his 3-pointers in the first and finished with 12 points.

Jeff Long led Bell City with nine points.

Varsity

Third Place Game

Bernie 89, Bloomfield 85

In the only competitive game of the night, Bernie had four players in double figures as the Mules held off a determined Bloomfield team.

Bloomfield stormed out of the gate behind Blake Harris' 13 first quarter points that lifted the Wildcats to a 23-14 lead. Harris finished with 23 points.

Bernie turned the tables on Bloomfield in the second with a 30-16 advantage and a 44-39 half time lead.

Silas Dill had 10 points in the second, including 5-of-5 free throws as the senior began to attack the basket. Dill finished with 24 points.

The second half saw both teams running the floor, and behind three 3-pointers in the period, Bernie pushed its advantage to 67-45.

Kyle Williamson rallied the Wildcats with 16 points over the final eight minutes of play, but it wasn't enough to deny the Mules.

Bloomfield finished with seven 3-pointers, while Bernie was 23-of-30 from the foul line.

"The roller-coaster ride that we've been on climbed back up the hill a little bit tonight (Friday)," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. " We've been up and down at times this season, and I thought we had solid, consistent effort tonight and got up and down the floor very well. We really challenged the kids to rise up and put Thursday's game against Puxico behind them and I thought we did that.

"I was really pleased with Silas Dill's effort," Botsch continued. "He really showed some leadership out on the floor and we desperately needed that from him.

"I also thought Jordan McGowan really gave us a huge lift off the bench," Botsch said of his freshman. "He really rebounded well and those 14 points off the bench were huge."