Bloomfield celebrates Homecoming win over Scott City

Jerry Jarrell photo Scott City's Skylar Cobb drives around Bloomfield's Garrett Rice Friday night at Bloomfield. [Click to enlarge]

BLOOMFIELD -- Bloomfield didn't bring its "A" game to the court against Scott City but the Wildcats still received a passing grade.

Bloomfield dominated a struggling Scott City Rams team from the opening tip and gave the Homecoming crowd plenty to cheer about in a 64-38 win Friday night.

"Before tonight we were playing really well," Bloomfield coach Dustin Hicks said of his team's lackadaisical play. "I told them in the locker room I hoped it was just because we got out of school at 11 today and it was Homecoming day and there were a thousand distractions, because this wasn't the team we've seen the last four games."

Even on a off night, Bloomfield still had enough to coast past the Rams, who slipped to 3-13 on the season.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Zach Cotner (11 points) and Justin Modglin made it a 8-8 game at the 3:49 mark of the first before Dylan Bader scored off a nice assist from Seth Hill and Skylar Cobb answered for the Rams to make it 10-all with 2:58 showing on the clock. Cobb's basket would be the last time the Rams had much to cheer for.

Bloomfield finished the first quarter on a 7-0 run, then turned up the defensive pressure and limited the Rams to just five points in the second while building a 35-15 half-time advantage. Bloomfield continued to pull away in the third building a 25 point cushion (52-27) on an offensive rebound and stick back by Cody Redcloud before taking a 52-29 lead into the fourth.

The Rams never found their shooting touch, going 2-of-10 (20 percent) in the second quarter and managed just 6-of-24 (33 percent) from the floor in the first half. The statistics were even worse from the charity strip where the Rams finished at 29 percent on 5-of-17 shooting.

Bloomfield finished 22-of-40 from the field (55 percent) and 18-of-33 (55 percent) from the foul line.

The Wildcats had four players score in double figures as Hicks was able to empty the bench for much of the fourth quarter. Derrick Caldwell led the way with 13 points, followed by Dylan Bader with 12 and Jacob McNeil and Garret Rice each with 11.

Jerry Jarrell photo Bloomfield's Dylan Bader protects a rebound during the Wildcats' 64-38 win over Scott city at home Friday night. [Click to enlarge]

Bloomfield is riding a five-game win streak that began when the Wildcats lost their leading scorer and rebounder, Leighton Hensley, to a season-ending injury during the SCAA tournament. The Wildcats rallied in that game to defeat Richland in the tournament's third-place game, but Hicks says his squad is still adjusting to the loss.

"We've done really well the first four games by just stepping up the defensive side of the ball," Hicks said of how his team is coping without the talented Hensley. "Because you don't get better when you lose Leighton, you just have to have other guys pick their game up and so far we've done that. We miss his presence on the offensive side of the basketball and just his presence in the locker room. But the boys have kind of rallied around it and they have won five straight since the injury, so I don't want to take anything away form them. But we'll miss him down the stretch no doubt about it."

Hicks says his team needs to finish strong going into the upcoming district seed meeting.

Bloomfield will play Doniphan Saturday, then Oran on Monday before the teams in Class 3, District 2 are seeded Wednesday. Bloomfield is the defending district champions.

Bloomfield 64, Scott City 38

SCOTT CITY -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Robert 1-0-0-2, Cobb 3-0-0-6, Crail 1-0-1-2, Eichorn 0-1-3-1, Speakman 1-0-8-2, Modglin 2-0-0-5, Cotner 4-2-2-11, Rogers 2-2-3-7. Totals: 14-5-17-38.

BLOOMFIELD -- McNeil 3-4-8-11, Rice 4-3-3-11, Hihll 1-0-0-3, Caldwell 5-3-3-13, Merick 0-4-7-4, Bader 5-2-6-12, Redcloud 3-2-2-8, Skaggs 1-0-4-2. Totals: 22-18-33-64.

3-Pointers: Scott City 3 (Cotner 1, Rogers 1, Modglin 1); Bloomfield 2 (McNeil 1, Hill 1).

JV: Bloomfield 59, Scott City 42