Bernie clobbers Dexter; Portageville survives OT

Bernie's Jordan McGowan (No. 44, top photo) draws a charge against Dexter's Drew Kelley (No. 3) in front of a large crowd during one of Monday's semifinal games at the 52nd Annual Bloomfield Christmas tournament.

BLOOMFIELD -- In a tournament filled with upsets and blowouts, the top two seeds at the 52nd Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament did manage to advance to the championship game...but just barely.

Bernie showed why it was the tournament's No. 1 seed, rallying around the loss of two starters to destroy No. 5 Dexter, 68-41, while No. 2 Portageville needed overtime to dispose of a tenacious Twin Rivers squad, 63-62.

Quinton Stevens (No. 14, above)) and Brandon Stoker of Dexter both race for a loose ball. Bernie defeated Dexter, 68-41, and will play Portageville tonight at 8:30 in the championship game.

A nearly packed house watch Bernie jump on Dexter early and dominate the Bearcats for four quarters, despite the loss of senior starter Zack Curry to an injury early in the first quarter. Bernie enter the semifinal game without the services of 6'5" center Jake Smith, who broke his foot in the previous game against Bloomfield and was on the bench wearing a cast, out for the season.

A large part of the crowd left after the Bernie-Dexter game, and even more made their way to the exits after the No. 6 Royals bolted to a 33-16 lead over the Bulldogs at the half. Those that stayed were rewarded with the game-of-the-tournament as coach Jim Bidewell rallied his troops for a monumental comeback and a 1-point win in overtime.

Tonight's championship games will open with No. 4 Hayti taking on No. 7 Doniphan in the consolation final at 4 p. m., followed by the fifth place game between host and No. 8 seed Bloomfield and No. 14 Van Buren at 5:30. Dexter will then tackle Twin Rivers in the third place game at 7 p. m., followed by the title game between Bernie and Portageville at 8:30.

No. 1 Bernie 68,

No. 5 Dexter 41

"These kids just really rallied around it," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said of his team's injuries at the tournament. "We talk about adversity and becoming mentally tough, not just in basketball but things you are going to face in life. We're pretty hard on our guys. And I think the toughness that we have tried to instill in these guys has come into play. These guys were not going to be denied tonight. I really thought they showed a lot of guts."

Quinton Stevens led the Mules off the bench with 21 points, including 14-of-16 from the free throw line where the Mules dominated the Bearcats. Bernie went to the line 24 times and connected on 20, while Dexter was 1-of-3 from the charity strip, all three attempts coming on fouls after scoring a basket.

Bernie also got double digit scoring from Jake Owens (17 points), Daniel Becking (12) and Jordan McGowan (10), who drew three charges on the night as the Mules' defense that set the tone for the game.

"Defensively our kids have been guarding well most of the year," Botsch commented. "We had one game at Bell City we lost that we felt like we were just not in the game, didn't feel like we played well. In this tournament we really guarded well. And that's something we take a lot of pride in that we want to do a good job in. That's the way you win is to really guard people and frustrate them on the defensive end.

"I think our kids did a really good job," Botsch added of his team's defense. "I was telling the guy on the radio that we gave up 20 offensive rebounds at Bell City and we were not pleased at all, to say the least, with the kids after that game. And I thought we limited Dexter to one shot most of the time and if you limit a team to one shot odds are you are going to have a good shot at winning the game. Controlling the boards and playing defense is what it's all about and our guys tonight really took it to heart that they were going to own the defensive boards."

Junior guard Jake Welch not only controlled the ball land the game with 10 assists and five steals, but he also was a force on the boards with a team-high eight rebounds, seven on the defensive end.

Dexter was led offensively by Alan Flannigan with 10 points, but eight of those came in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

No. 2 Portageville 63, No. 6 Twin Rivers 62, OT

Twin Rivers looked unstoppable from the opening tip as the Royals built a 20-7 first quarter lead and went into the locker room leading 33-16. But Portageville showed whey they were undefeated coming in, applying a suffocating defense to open they third that limited the Royals to just five points, while scoring the first 19-point of the second half to make it a 38-35 game.

The game came down to a free throw shooting contest late in the fourth, as Dometric Treadwell hit two to five the Bulldogs a 52-49 advantage with 41 second remaining after Cole McBroom had missed two for the Royals.

The Royals Brett Whitlock would come up big on the ensuring possession, knocking down a 3-pointer with 30 second remaining to tie the game and send it to overtime after the Bulldogs missed the last shot with time expiring.

The overtime went back-and-forth before Whitlock again connected from behind the arc with 18 seconds remaining to push the Royals out front, 62-61.

Portageville pushed the ball up court and in a scramble for a loose ball, Wright was fouled and calmly sank two free throws for a the win after a long attempt by the Royals was off the mark.