By Andrew Cato
ShowMe Times Sports

It was, as predicted by senior Alan Flannigan, a “hard-fought Stoddard County contest” for the Dexter Bearcats and the Bloomfield Wildcats. Every time it looked as if the Bearcats had put the game away, Bloomfield would find a way to come creeping back in, but, at the end of the game, the Bearcats came out on top.

With a final score of 61-52, Dexter has now won three games in a row, and 8 of the last 9 games have ended with a Bearcat victory.

Senior Jake Cox opened the scoring for the Bearcats, draining a 3-pointer on the first shot of the night, and helped Dexter jump out to a quick 6-0 lead. The Bearcats ended the first quarter with a 15-7 lead.

Bloomfield senior Dylan Bader almost completed the old-fashioned three-point play to open the third, but couldn’t connect. He could, however, hit his first 3-pointer of the night at around the 4:00 mark. Bearcat junior Jordan Fitts answered with a three of his own less than a minute later, and senior Logan Robey connected on a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats a 32-18 lead going into halftime.

The Wildcats found some of their starters in foul trouble in the third quarter, and made extensive use of their bench. Seth Hill hit his first three of the night for the Wildcats, and helped narrow Dexter’s lead to 40-39 at the end of the third quarter.

The Bearcats came out fired up, and seemingly more focused, to start the fourth period. Bader and Hill both hit threes for Bloomfield, but it was a case of too little, too late. Bader went on to foul out; Adam Flannigan and Tyler Miller came up with two key blocks to help seal the deal for the Bearcats.

“All-in-all, we played pretty well. They came out hard and physical, and we jumped out to a quick lead; we started out good in the second half, but they [Bloomfield] made some defensive adjustments and it kind of threw us off,” Dexter Head Coach Rob Nichols said. “We also got put to sleep a bit when they had to play backups in the later part of the third because of foul trouble.”

“I told the kids before the fourth that they were still in this ballgame, and then some of my leaders jumped in and told them ‘We aren’t going to lose this game,’ and we came out fired up,” Nichols said.

Before the night was over, seven Bearcats had contributed to the teams’ 61 points. Adam Flannigan led the way with 25 points, Tyler Miller had 11 points, Jake Lee put in 9, Jake Cox and Jordan Fitts had 5 points each, and Josh Sifford and Logan Robey both had 3 points.

Dylan Bader led the Wildcats with 29 points, Seth Hill had 18 points, Aron Henson and Mitchell Skaggs each wound up with 2 points, and Adam Vandiver had 1 point.

“We’re going to have to play four hard quarters of basketball Friday night,” said Coach Nichols of Dexter’s next opponent. “Bernie is a great basketball team, and we’re going to have to play well to beat them.”

Flannigan agreed with his coach that Friday’s game will pit two strong Stoddard County rivals.

“It’s going to be another very physical, very tough game,” said senior Alan Flannigan. “We’ll be going into a very hostile environment. It’s a great rivalry; they’ll be fired up to play us, as we will be to play them.”



The Bearcats move to 8-5 on the season with their victory Tuesday night, and will face the Bernie Mules at Bernie on Friday, Jan. 14.