Bloomfield, Missouri – Bloomfield High School celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the back-to-back Final 4 Basketball seasons of 1965 and 1966 on Friday evening at their Homecoming festivities.
They honored cheerleaders Bonnie Blue, Carolyn Whitledge Brown, Janice Asbell Aslin, and Brenda Graham Johnson. From the 1964-1965 basketball team Mick Aslin, Rodney Bullinger, Danny Gaines, Dennis Gillespie, Phil Johnson, Allen Lafferty, Ron McAdoo, Mike McCollum, David Pounds, Dale Underwood, Ron Underwood, Bill White, Ron White, Mike Wise, Head Coach Tom Hewgley, Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour, and scorekeeper Lonnie Hutchison.
This season, the Bloomfield Wildcats finished first in the Bernie Tournament, Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, and the Stoddard County Tournament. In the regional Tournament, they defeated Risco, Bernie, Doniphan, and Richland by an average of 64 points to advance to the Class M State Tournament.
At State, they defeated Ester 77-50, Advance 53-47, before losing to eventual state champion Buffalo by just 3 points 52-55.
The Wildcats responded by defeating Owensville 76-44 to capture 3rd place in State and completing the greatest season in wildcat Basketball History with 34 wins and 2 losses.
Individual honors for the 1964-1965 season went to Dennis Gillespie – All County, Ron Underwood – All County, Mike Wise – All County, Ron White – All-County and 1st Wildcat to be selected to the All-State Team.
The following 1965-1966 roster saw a blend of new and familiar faces. Those honored were Lanny Bell, Andy Bullinger, Terry Chasteen, Phil Johnson, Mike McCollum, David Pounds, Tom Rainwater, Dave Swindell, Doyle Swindell, Dennis Underwood, Don Underwood, Bill White, Don Williams, Glen Williamson, Mike Wise, Head Coach Tom Hewgley, Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour, and scorekeeper Lonnie Hutchison.
This season the Wildcats repeated with winning the Bernie Tournament, the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and the Stoddard County Tournament.
In Regional Tournament they defeated Doniphan, Quilin, Malden, and Greenville to secure back-to-back trips to the Class M State Tournament. Mike Wise also set a 4 game regional record scoring 122 points for an average of 30.5 points per game.
At state they found themselves again in the 3rd place game, eventually losing to Booneville 51-52 to place 4th. They finished the season with 32 wins and 3 losses capping off the greatest 2-year run in Wildcat Basketball history.
Individual honors for the 1965-1966 season went to Phillip Johnson – All District, Andy Bullinger – All District, Donnie Underwood – All County, and Mike Wise – All County, All District and the second Wildcat selected to the All-State Team.
The Wildcats were guided from 1963-1967 by Coach Tom Hewgley and Assistant Coach Charlie Spoonhour. During their tenure the Wildcats complied a record of 112 wins and 19 losses, a winning percentage of .855. They are still the winningest coaches in school history to date.
Bloomfield, Missouri – The Wildcats hosted the Bell City Cubs Tuesday evening and improved their record to 12-8 with a 59-36 victory!
Bloomfield led by 11 points at the end of the first quarter. Their biggest lead in the game in the 3rd quarter when they outscored the Cubs 23 - 5.
“We were able to catch Bell City at a good time,” commented Bloomfield coach Jason Karnes. “They were short a few kids, but they came in here and played really hard. We had a sluggish first half, but were able to pick it up defensively the second half and that led to some good possessions the other way for us.”
Tyler Battles paced the Wildcats with a team-high 14 points including one trey.
Austin Bond and Noah Vandiver each added 11 points for Bloomfield. Caleb Pulley hit one 3-pointer!
Cole Nichols hit three treys for the Cubs. He finished with a game-high 18 points. Nate Finney finished with 12 points including two 3-pointers.
“We have a big conference game on Friday against a good Puxico team,” stated Karnes. Bloomfield (12-8) will host the Puxico Indians. Game time 6:00 p.m.
Final Score Bloomfield 59, Bell City 36
Bell City 5 13 5 13 - 36
Bloomfield 16 8 23 12 - 59
Bell City (36) – Nate Finney 12, Cole Nichols 18, Logan Yates 3, Jesse Smith 2, Peyton Maddox 1. FG 12, FT 7/15, F 21. (3-pointers: Finney 2, Nichols 3. Fouled Out: Brandon Abner).
Bloomfield (59) – Caleb Pulley 5, Peyton Bell 2, Nathan Newell 8, Austin Bond 11, Tyler Battles 14, Noah Vandiver 11, Alex Gibbs 6, Nate Cazee 2. FG 18, FT 21/28, F 19. (3-pointers: Pulley 1, Battles 1. Fouled Out: Gibbs).
Bloomfield, Missouri – The #3 seeded Kennett seemed to be unstoppable against the #7 seeded Bloomfield Wildcats on Monday evening the second match of the semifinals of the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Late in the 3rd quarter Tyler Battles rallied and hit three straight 3-pointers for Bloomfield.
“The option we had was to start shooting as quick as we could, hope a couple fall and hope they miss some free throws on the other end,” commented Bloomfield’s head coach Jason Karnes. “I thought in that stretch we competed a lot harder than what we did for a lot of the game. And again, a lot of that has to do with Kennett. They are a great program and are well coached.”
“Those last few minutes we played really well,” continued Karnes. “I wish we could have found a way to do that a few more minutes though.”
Noah Vandiver tallied a game-high 22 points for the Wildcats and hit one trey. Tyler Battles finished with 16 points. Nathan Newel hit one trey.
Kennett scored double digits in each of the four quarters.
Andre Oliver tallied a team-high 16 points for Kennett. Rantrell Caruthers tallied 13 points including one trey.
Final Score #3 Kennett 59, #7 Bloomfield 53
Bloomfield 7 10 12 24 - 53
Kennett 13 13 16 17 - 59
Bloomfield (53) – Tim Hector 1, Peyton Bell 3, Nathan Newell 5, Austin Bond 3, Tyler Battles 16, Noah Vandiver 22, Alex Gibbs 3. FG 15, FT 18/28, F 14. (3-pointers: Newell 1, Battles 3, Vandiver 1. Fouled Out: Vandiver)
Kennett (59) – Rantrell Caruthers 13, Carlos Turner 5, Landon Vaughan 2, Fred Gooden 3, Jarvis Stewart 5, Andre Oliver 16, Jaylean Kinnon 6, Jad Kenny 4. FG 24, FT 9/16, F 21. (3-pointers: Caruthers 1, Stewart 1. Fouled Out: None)
Bloomfield will play for 3rd place at 7:00 p.m. against Hayti at the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament slated for Tuesday, December 30, 2014.
Bloomfield, Missouri – Bloomfield Wildcat fans were on their feet rallying them to victory over the Malden Green Wave. Malden seeded second was expected to be in the semifinals if not the final championship game of the 58th Annual Christmas Tournament; however that is not the case.
Bloomfield knocked them down in the quarterfinal game Saturday night in front of a packed crowd and secured their place in the semifinals on Monday. Final score 54-47.
Malden jumped out to an early lead in first few minutes of the game, but the Wildcats ran the ball to the basket scoring the next 14 points.
“I think we finally relaxed,” stated Bloomfield’s coach Jason Karnes. “I think we were "amped" up and caught in the moment the first few minutes. Once we called a timeout, relaxed and got in our stuff we go a lot ore confident.”
Tyler Battles tallied all 14 of his points in the first half including one 3-pointer. Noah Vandiver finished with a game-high 27 points.
“Tyler Battles played a great game,” Karnes said. “He had about two really good offensive possessions in that stretch.”
“We’ve got guys who can make shots and get to the hole,” continued Karnes. “If we will just stay aggressive and play our game we feel we can be successful.”
Malden’s Cortez Dobbins finished with 18 points including one trey. Trevor Ison tallied 11 points and added a trey and Alejandro Gordon recorded 8 points hitting two 3-pointers.
“Last night and tonight we ran our sets and the guys did a great job of executing them Karnes added. “Then Noah has to go finish them off. He’s played tremendous the last two nights because he really went to the rim and finished well.”
Bloomfield is slated to take on the #3 seeded Kennett Indians on Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. Malden is scheduled to play Dexter at 5:30 on Monday.
“It was just a total team effort. We played three or four different defenses. We did a really good job of mixing it up and executing all our sets and that’s what it was going to take,” commented Karnes. “We rebounded on the defensive end tremendously and that’s what you have got to do against them to be successful.”
Final score #7 Bloomfield 54, #2 Malden 47
Bloomfield 13 16 17 8 - 54
Malden 12 15 10 10 - 47
Bloomfield (54) - Cameron Pulley 3, Peyton Bell 3, Nathan Newell 3, Tyler Battles 14, Noah Vandiver 27, Alex Gibbs 4. FG 20, FT 11/21, F 16. (3-pointers: Hector 1, Bell 1, Battles 1. Fouled Out: None)
Malden (47) - Alejandro Gordon 8, Shaeen Perkins 5, Cortez Dobbins 18, Shamaudre Barber 2, Orlandis Farr 3, Trevor Ison 11. FG 16, FT 9/11, F 23 (3 pointers: Gordon 2, Perkins 1, Dobbins 1, Farr 1, Ison 1. Fouled Out: Dobbins, Barber).
Bloomfield, Missouri – In game #7 of the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas tournament the #7 seeded Bloomfield Wildcats proved to have the lucky number 7 on their side. Bloomfield scored double digits in each of the four quarters to secure their win over the Puxico Indians 73 – 55.
Chris Siler tallied a team-high 17 points for Puxico and landed one trey. Seth Luttrell scored 15 points and hit two 3-pointers. Zack Tucker finished the game with 14 points. Dalton King hit one trey for the Indians.
Puxico led at the end of the first quarter by one point. Bloomfield fought back and scoring 21 points in the second period to regain the lead 39 – 36 at the half.
Bloomfield’s Noah Vandiver seemed to be unstoppable under the basket finishing with a game-high 27 points. Peyton Bell tallied 12 points including one 3-pointer. Nathan Newell finished the night with 9 points including a trey and Tyler Battles scored 7 points including a trey.
The Wildcats came out strong in the 3rd quarter doubling their opponent’s points. Bloomfield scored 18 points to Puxico’s 9 points in the 3rd.
Final Score #7 Bloomfield 73, #10 Puxico 55
Puxico 19 17 9 10 - 55
Bloomfield 18 21 18 16 - 73
Puxico (55) – Levi Woods 4, Cory Pratt 2, Chris Siler 17, Dalton King 3, Seth Luttrell 15, Zack Tucker 14. FG 22, FT 7/10, F 16. (3-pointers: Luttrell 2, King 1, Siler 1. Fouled Out: Cory Pratt)
Bloomfield (73) – Tim Hector 6, Peyton Bell 12, Nathan Newell 9, Austin Bond 9, Tyler Battles 7, Noah Vandiver 27. FG 26, FT 14/24, F15. (3-pointers: Tim Hector 1, Bell 1 Newell 1, Battles 1. Fouled Out: None).
Bloomfield defeated #2 Malden 54 – 47 at the 7:00 p.m. game on Saturday to advance to the semi-finals. Full story and stats will be posted at a later time.
Puxico defeated Van Buren 79 – 54 in game #10 on Saturday morning. Full story and stats will be posted at a later time.
