Bearcats end regular season with win over Cape Central

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Bobby Rawson (right) drives on Cape Central's Chase Johnson during Friday's, 71-43, SEMO Conference win by the Bearcats at home.

Dexter played its best all around game of the season and the results were a convincing, 71-43, SEMO Conference win over the Cape Central Tigers Friday on Senior Night for the Bearcats.

"Personally, I didn't know we could play that well," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the surprisingly easy win. "That's the best we've played all year. Defensively, rebounding, offensively, they just played with a lot of confidence and it showed on the court."

Dexter got balanced scoring and produced its third best offensive output of the season. The Bearcats outplayed the Tigers in all four quarters to win the last game of the regular season and improve to 6-15.

"I don't think we can play much better than that," Nichols commented. "We've struggled for offense all year, but our defense created a lot of offense for us tonight. We got a lot of run outs and we ran our fast break well. We did a lot of things good tonight."

The 43 points allowed to Cape Central were the fewest this season by the Bearcats, while the 71 offensive points ranks third. For the game, Dexter shot 50 percent from the field (14-of-28 in the first half, 16-of-32 in the second) and was also at the .500 marks from 3-point range, connected on 4-of-8 for the game. The 'Cats also connected on 7-of-9 free throws.

"Really, I thought before the game that we didn't look ready to play when we were down in the locker room," Nichols pointed out." But we preached all week about this being their last home game. To be honest with you, these guys have worked hard in practice all year. They've never had an attitude problem. It just seems come game time, one or two will have a good game, and one or two might have the worst game of their careers. We always said if we could get them all clicking on the same night, we thought we could be a pretty fair basketball team.

Dexter's Kevin Hart led all players with 20 points, while David Hessling had his best offensive game of the year with 17. Bobby Rawson and Logan Carwile each had nine while Drew Kelley chipped in with seven.

Trailing 9-8 in the opening period, Hart knocked down a 3-pointer at the 2:56 mark to spark an 11-5 run by the Bearcats who took a 19-14 lead into the second.

Dexter's defense limited the Tigers to seven points in the second quarter and produced a 10-point Bearcats' lead at the half, 31-21.

Hart and Hessling combined for 20 of Dexter's 24 third quarter points while the 'Cats defense was limiting the Tigers to just three baskets and a mere nine points. Dexter finished the period on a 9-2 run to take control of the game, 55-30, with eight minutes to play.

Cape cut the lead to 57-39 early in the fourth, but the 'Cats answered with a 9-0 run for a 66-39 advantage. Dexter coasted home with the win as every player on the bench got in on the action.

The ease of the win was in stark contrast to how the season has played out for the Bearcats.

"We invented ways to lose games during the middle of the season," Nichols reflected. "If we had won a few of those games (Dexter lost three games in row by a total of four points during one stretch), I really think we would have been around the .500 mark, maybe a little above. On the record it doesn't look like a very good season, but those kids are 10 points away combined from winning four or five more games."

Dexter made it a sweep on the night as the Jayvee Bearcats posted a 70-50 win to open the night's play.

Jon Bowman had 16 points to pace the younger 'Cats while Alan Flannigan and Sawyer Smith contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Dexter will next be in action Monday at 6 p. m. when the 'Cats will open Class 4, District 1 play against Ste. Genevieve at the Perry Center Center in Perryville.

Note: The senior members of Dexter's team are David Hessling, Clayton Shell,. Eric Windham, Bobby Rawson, Tyler Scott, Logan Carwile and Kevin Hart.