'Cats fall short in opener as Dixon leads Bluejays to SEMO Conference win

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Taylor Jarrell (left) battles for a rebound with Charleston's Deonte Jones during the Bearcats' 65-56 loss at home Tuesday. In the background is Dexter's Ryan Windham.

The 6'2" Dixon did most of his damage inside, but did hit one-of-two Charleston 3-pointers along with 8-of-10 free throws to help the Bluejays get their first win after losing two games in the Riverbend Shootout at New Madrid to open there season.

Dexter trailed the entire game, falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, but kept the large home crowd in the game as the Bearcats came out in the third quarter and opened with a 6-2 run and cut into the Sikeston advantage on the way to a 47-40 start to the fourth.

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Jered Stephens pulls down a round in traffic during Tuesday's home opener for the Bearcats against Charleston. Dexter lost the game, 65-56.

The 'Cats continued to outplay Charleston and eventually made it a two-point game 56-54 on an old fashion 3-point play by Drew Kelley and a basket by Alan Flanigan with four minutes to play.

"With about three and half minutes to go, we had three shots on one possession to take the lead," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game. "One of those goes (in) and it might be a different story because our kids were in to the game at that point."

Dixon answered for Sikeston to stem the Bearcats' surge, and Dexter finished the game going 1-for-7 from the field, including 0-4 from behind the 3-point line and 0-4 from the free throw line.

Charleston won the game on the free throw line where the Bluejays were 21-of-33, while Dexter finished 11-of-26. Both teams had 21 field goals, Dexter holding a 3-2 advantage in 3-pointers.

"That's not going to beat good teams," Nichols commented on his team's troubles from the charity stripe. "That's not going to beat Charleston I can tell you that right now."

Dexter had eight players score, with new comer Luciano Starling leading the way with 12 points. Senior Jered Stephens was the only other Bearcat in double figures with 10 points off the bench.

"We put a lot of inexperienced kids out there," Nichols noted. "We basically had one kid (Kelley) on the floor that started the game that had varsity experience coming back. We saw a lot of jitters in the first half. We just couldn't slow down.

"We were ramped up and didn't take our time and we made a lot of turnover just because we would not slow down," Nichols continued. "Charleston plays great defense and they put a lot of pressure on you but you've got to be seasoned enough to slow the ball down and get what you need in the half court set. They just forced us to play too fast."

While Charleston had two tournament games under its belt, the SEMO Conference matchup was the first test for the young Bearcats.

"I was pleased with our effort," Nichols noted. "We could have folded the tent early, because we had a 6 or 7 minute stretch we just couldn't do anything and they built a little bit of a lead.

"There are some positives to take form it, but at the same time its disappointing to us to be right there and not win it at the end," he added. "You've got to get some of these games if you are going to be a good team.

Dexter earned a split on the night when the JV Bearcats used a 21-9 fourth quarter advantage to win, 62-50. Josh Sifford netted a game-high 26 points in the JV contest, including 22-of-26 free throws.

Dexter trailed 25-21 at the half, but tied the game at 41-all after three quarters.

The Bearcats will next be in action at Sikeston Friday night. The Bulldogs defeated Blytheville, Ark., on the road Tuesday, 81-71.

"I'd say Sikeston is going to be a pretty good challenge for us, especially at the Fieldhouse," Nichols said. " All we can do is go over there and give it our best shot and play the game."

NOTE: See the Scoreboard on page 7 of the Daily Statesman for game box scores.