Mules rain down 3's on Bearcats

Daily Statesman Sports Editor

The weatherman called for a chance of snow Friday night. He said nothing about it raining 3's.

Dexter and Poplar Bluff combined for 13 3-pointers, but it was the Mules that knocked down four in a game-changing second quarter on their way to an easy 75-44 SEMO Conference win over Dexter.

Jake White connected on three of the Mules' seven 3-pointers for the game on his way to a game-high 17 point effort.

Jordan Marler (10 points) hit the first trey of the game late in the first quarter to give the Mules a 14-9 lead, before White scored after a missed Dexter 3-point attempt for a 16-9 first quarter Mules advantage. Things quickly went downhill from there for the Bearcats.

Jon Bowman, who had three 3's for Dexter, opened the second with a trey, but the Mules would go on a 15-2 run highlighted by 4-of-5 shooting from behind the arc to blow the game wide open, 34-14.

Dexter had no answers after regrouping at the half as the Mules stepped up their pressure with wave after wave of players coming off the bench to force Dexter out of any game plan they had. A 21-6 third quarter advantage for the Mules sent the mercy clock into motion for the fourth.

"The first quarter we did all right when we were a little methodical attacking the press and tried to get into an offense," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game. "Then they started trapping us half court. We just didn't get into an offense. We got rushed... played to fast. You're not going to run up and down with them."

Dexter got 11-point efforts from Bowman and junior Alan Flannigan as the Bearcats slipped to 1-5 overall, 1-3 in the SEMO Conference.

Frazier would substitute players, three, four even five at a time in an effort to keep the game at a frantic pace and wear down their opponent. Nichols said his team was never able to make them pay a price for their all or nothing style of play.

"You've got to have some guys make them pay when they are aggressive like that," Nichols said. "I think when we did beat it (the pressure), we were tentative in half court. We didn't really look to attack after we beat the press. That's what you've got to do. You've got to make them not press you and to do that you have to score against it."

The game was a break-out shooting night for the Mules, who are gaining confidence while improving to 6-2 overall, 1-0 in league play.

"What is happening, I think our team is starting to believe in what they can do as a team and when you are playing as hard as these guys are right night, you're bound to have a little bit of confidence every time you step on the floor," Poplar Bluff coach Lamont Frazier commented. "There's not one guy that stepped on the court that I thought went out and had a bad game."

For Nichols was a choice between two evils in his approach to defending the Mules.

" I've watched them three times this year and they haven't hit that many 3's when I saw them," Nichols added. "We tried to double down on the post on (Jay) Raulston and (Eljie) Johnson all night and they made us pay for it. We tried to not double down off White, and we did a couple of times and he stuck a three with a hand in his face. We knew he was a good shooter, but do you want to let them kill you in the paint or do you want to make them shoot 3's? That's the less percentage shot, but a good team will beat you with it."

Dexter won the junior varsity game, 56-50 over the Mules.

The Bearcats will next be in action at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament Dec. 26 (Saturday) where as the No. 5 seed they will take on No. 12 Van Buren at 2:30.

Notes: It was announced during the Poplar Bluff game that the next home game for Dexter will be played in the new Bearcat Center, Jan. 7, against Notre Dame Regional High School.

Varsity

Poplar Bluff 75, Dexter 44

POPLAR BLUFF -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Griggs 2-0-0-5, McCain 6-1-2-14, Coble 3-2-3-8, McAnulty 1-3-4-5, Abraham 1-0-0-2, Raulston 2-3-5-7, Marler 3-2-2-10, White 7-0-0-17, Johnson 3-1-1-7. Totals: 28-12-17-75.

DEXTER -- Stoker 2-2-2-6, Windham 1-2-4-5, Flannigan 4-2-2-11, Robey 1-0-0-3, Bowman 4-0-0-11, Clouse 1-2-2-4, Jarrell 2-0-0-4. Totals: 15-8-10-44.

3-Pointers: Poplar Bluff 7 (White 3, Marler 2, McCain 1, Griggs 1); Dexter 6 (Bowman 3, Flannigan 1, Windham 1, Robey 1).

Junior Varsity

Dexter 56, Poplar Bluff 50

POPLAR BLUFF -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) A. Griffith 0-2-2-2, R. Griffith 2-0-0-5, Anders 6-0-0-14, King 1-0-0-2,Patterson 7-4-6-18, Sexton 0-2-3-2, Keeney 3-0-0-6, Rathbun 0-1-2-1. Totals: 19-9-13-50

DEXTER -- J. Fitts 4-5-6-14, D. Fitts 2-3-4-6, Young 0-0-2-0, Lee 3-8-10-14, Miller 2-4-7-8, Summers 3-4-6-11, Moore 0-2-2-2. Totals: 14-26-32-56.

3-Pointers: Poplar Bluff 3 (Anders 2, R. Griffith 1); Dexter 2 (J. Fitts 1, Summers 1).