No. 2 NMCC defeats Dexter in SEMO play

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Jon Bowman (No. 24) goes up for the shot while New Madrid County Central's Josh Minner looks on during Monday's first-round clash at the SEMO Conference Tournament in Sikeston. Bowman finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, but the Eagles won the game, 61-43.

Ealy led an assault on the boards by New Madrid in the second half, and the Eagles steadily stepped up their pressure defense as the game wore on to turn a 25-21 half-time score into an easy 18-point win by the tournament's No. 2 team.

"The first half we handled the pressure, or maybe they weren't as intense coming out," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game. "To be honest with you, they (NMCC) didn't shoot it great all night. They killed us on the boards, Tony Ealy and a bunch. They didn't hurt us on the first shot. It was the second and third shot. He got a ton of offensive rebounds."

New Madrid finished with a 30-11 rebounding edge (16 offensive) over the 0-3 Bearcats, while Ealy cleared the glass for nine boards, Josh Miner finished with 13 points and seven rebounds and Dontre Jenkins added 11 points and five steals.

"That's a lot more than we've been giving up," Nichols said, referring to the rebounding difference. "The first half we came out being aggressive and making shots. Then we just didn't get any shots late in the second quarter, early in the third. We just had too many turnovers. You can't win when you turn it over, over 20 times.

Most of Jenkins' steals came in the second half as the Eagles' defensive pressure wore down the Bearcats and began to build a lead. Nichols credited New Madrid with a good defensive effort, but he felt many of the Bearcats' turnovers were unforced errors

"They just stepped up there pressure, put a little more pressure on us," Nichols said of the second half. "And right now we're just not handling and kind of pressure. It's really turnovers where we're just trying to get rid of the ball.

"We've got guys who just want rid of it (the ball)," he continued. "It's not that they (opponents) are stealing, it's just bad passes, its (bad) decisions we make out of fear it seems like. Other than Drew Kelley and Brandon Stoker, nobody really wanted to handle the ball."

Dexter got 14 points each from sophomore Alan Flannigan and junior Jon Bowman. Bowman hit four 3-pointers, while Flannigan added a from behind the arc but did most of his scoring on the inside.

Dexter will now face the loser of tonight's game between Poplar Bluff and Jackson Thursday at 5:30 p. m., while the winner of that game will take on NMCC in a semifinal pairing.

The other semifinal game features No. 1 Sikeston, a 74-30 winner over No. 8 Cape Central, against No. 4 Notre Dame Regional High School, a 52-50 winner over No. 5 Charleston.