Bernie, Dexter reach title game at SCAA tournament

Jerry Jarrell photo Bloomfield defenders surround Bernie's Jake Welch (No. 12) as he puts up a shot during semifinal action at the SCAA tournament at Bloomfield Thursday night. [Click to enlarge]

BLOOMFIELD -- We know who is in the finals of the 85th Annual SCAA tournament, but when the championship game will be played is another story.

Top seed Bernie rolled over No. 5 Bloomfield, 56-39, and No. 2 Dexter won a knock-down drag-out rumble over No. 3 Richland, 77-67, in varsity semifinal action Thursday at Bloomfield.

Dexter and Bloomfield advanced to the title game in the jayvee bracket after the Bearcats wore down Puxico for a 63-52 win and Bloomfield slipped past Bernie, 32-28, in overtime.

Tournament play was to conclude tonight (Friday), but with the pending inclement weather tournament officials announced that if schools are closed Friday, there will be no games and the makeup date would be Wednesday (Feb. 3). Games would start at 4 o'clock.

The varsity championship game will mark the third meeting between Bernie and Dexter this season. The Mules own wins in the first two games.

"I guarantee you it won't be easy playing Dexter for a third time," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "We beat them the first two and I'm sure they are going to be ready to get us this time. But our kids also know that the county championship is on the line. We've already beaten them twice and if we play up to our capability we should have a good opportunity to do it for a third time. They'll be ready, and we will be to."

No. 1 Bernie 56, No. 5 Bloomfield 39

"Last time we played Bloomfield they really came out from the get-go and had more intensity then we did," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said of a recent regular-season loss to Bloomfield. " think tonight we had as much or more than they did. Our defense was just outstanding from the get-go and we continued to play consistent, hard-nosed defense all night long and I think that was the difference in the game."

That 'hard-nosed' defense limited Bloomfield to just six first quarter points and set the tone for a game that Bernie controlled from the opening tip. Bloomfield managed 11 points in the second quarter, but Jake Welch and Jake Owens were heating up for the Mules who put 21 on the boards for a commanding 35-17 lead at the half. Owens dropped in 10 of his 16-points in the second frame, while Welch scored six of his 12 in the second.

"Bernie came out with a lot of energy from the start of the game," Bloomfield coach Dustin Hicks noted. "We knew they would. It was the rubber match of the season. Winner kind of gets braggin' rights for the rest of the way. We probably really didn't expect it after the way we handled them the last game. We didn't have the best practice leading into the game and it carried over to the court tonight."

Jake Smith led the Mules with 17 points, while Jacob McNeil was the only Wildcat in double figures with 10.

Bloomfield leading scorer, Leighton Hensley, was hurt late in the third quarter and had to leave the game. It appeared the Hensley hurt his left leg when he got tangled up with another player fell to the floor on a break-way lay-up attempt. The extent of the injury was unknown.

No. 2 Dexter 77, No. 3 Richland 67

The Dexter Bearcats will get to defend their SCAA tournament title of last year after surviving a rugged game with the state-ranked Rebels.

Dexter bolted to an early lead and maintained it throughout the first half. The Bearcats enjoyed their biggest lead of 17 points, 50-33, early in the third, but the Rebels charged back to make it a 9-point game going into the final eight minutes of play.

'It was a game of runs," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after watching his team get a second win over Richland and even its record at 8-8 for the season. " I don't know exactly how much we got up, I think it was 16 or 17 at one point, and then for about eight or 10 trips down the floor against their press we did nothing but shoot pull-up jump shots and turn it over and they got back in the game.

"You've got to give those guys a lot of credit," Nichols continued. "Richland played hard the whole game and really made a good run to get back in it. There was no quit in them They're a good basketball team and we'll see them again and play them at their place and it will be even tougher over there."

Dexter could only manage one field goal in the fourth quarter by Gary Summers, but the 'Cats did shoot lights out from the free throw line where they hit 14-of-16 from the charity strip and 25-of-28 for the game.

"We've got them again Tuesday night," first-year Richland coach John Walker said. " They came out hot and we fought back. It was a rough and tumble game, we just didn't get it done."

Dexter hit seven 3-pointers in the first half to help build early leads, three by Jon Bowman (18 points) in the first quarter. Bryn Hester added two and Brandon Stoker (16 points) and Gary Summers (12 points) each knocked down a trey in the second.

Alan Flannigan added 17 points for Dexter in the win.

Richland got 25-points each from Mikey Latham and Ryan Kleffer in the loss, just the third of the season for the Rebels who are ranked No. 5 in Class 1.

SCAA Tournament

At Bloomfield

Thursday

Varsity Semifinals

No. 1 Bernie 56, No. 5 Bloomfield 39

BLOOMFIELD -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) McNeil 3-3-3-10, Hensley 4-0-0-9, Rice 13-4-5, Hill 0-4-6-4, Caldwell 3-1-2-7, Bader 1-0-0-2, Redcloud 1-0-0-2. Totals: 13-11-15-39.

BERNIE -- Welch 5-2-2-12, Owens 4-7-9-16, S. WAlker 1-2-5-4, Smith 7-3-4-17, McGowan 3-0-0-7. Totals: 20-14-20-56.

3-Pointers: Bloomfield 2 (McNeil 1, Hensley 1); Bernie 2 (Owens 1, McGowan 1).

No. 2 Dexter 77, No. 3 Richland 67

RICHLAND -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Latham 9-7-8-25, D. Thornton 5-1-1-12, Kleffer 9-5-6-25, M. Thornton 2-1-4-5. Totals: 25-14-19-67.

DEXTER -- Stoker 4-7-8-16, Summers 3-4-4-12, Hester 2-2-2-8, Flannigan 5-7-8-17, Bowman 5-5-6-18, Clouse 1-0-0-2, Jarrell 2-0-0-4. Totals: 22-25-28-77.

Junior Varsity

Semifinals

No. 1 Dexter 63, No. 4 Puxico 52

PUXICO -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Plunkett 1-0-0-3, Crane 4-2-2-11, Camden 3-0-0-7, Martin 6-3-4-16, Gadberry 4-1-3-9, Roberts 3-0-0-6. Totals: 21-6-9-52.

DEXTER -- D. Fitts 4-1-2-10, J. Fitts 4-3-4-11, Lee 8-2-6-18, Miller 6-0-0-12, Summers 6-0-0-12. Totals: 28-6-12-63.

3-Pointers: Puxico 4 (Crane 1, Camden 1, Martin 1); Dexter 1 (D. Fitts)

No. 2 Bloomfield 32, No. 3 Bernie 28, OT

BERNIE (fg-ftm-fta-tp)-- Woods 3-0-0-6, Turner 1-0-0-2, Barnett 2-2-2-6, Baker 5-0-0-10, Clayton 2-0-0-4. Totals: 13-2-2-28.

BLOOMFIELD -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Ruch 1-0-0-3, Cowart 1-0-0-2, Henson 3-1-2-9, Pounds 0-2-4-2, Vandiver 5-2-4-12, Forkum 1-2-7-4. Totals: 11-7-17-32

3-Pointers: Bernie 0; Bloomfield 3 (Henson 2, Ruch 1)