By Andrew Cato,
ShowMe Times Sports

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The stage was set. The teams ready. The crowd ready for a night of basketball.

The championship game of the 86th Annual Stoddard County Tournament on Jan. 28 pitted the Bernie Mules and the Dexter Bearcats in the second time the teams have met this season. The game was also a rematch of the 2010 tournament finals - with both teams ready to battle it out to be crowned the basketball champions of Stoddard County by the evening’s end.

Dexter has had trouble finishing games with the Mules the last two seasons. When the two teams met two weeks ago the Mules squeaked past the Bearcats, winning by six points. In last year’s finals, the Mules beat the ‘Cats by just a point, 47-46.

The Bearcats’ defense seemed much improved over their previous meeting, with Tyler Miller and Alan Flannigan each having a block and a takeaway during the opening quarter. Cameron Shipman hit a three with about two minutes left for the Mules, but was quickly answered by Logan Robey for the Bearcats, who hit his first three of the night on the ensuing possession. The Mules held onto a 13-11 lead at the end of the first.


Dexter’s defensive dominance continued in the second quarter. Miller had two more takeaways, and Bryn Hester, Jake Cox, and Jake Lee each picked off Bernie passes. Eight of the ‘Cats’ 14 points in the frame came off turnovers, but Jordan McGowan again shot brilliantly from three-point land. The senior made five threes the during the regular season meeting between the two clubs, and was no different tonight.

McGowan hit his first three at the 2:15 mark, made a big steal 10 seconds later, and hit another NBA-range three with two minutes left in the half. Senior Taylor Jarrell had two big layups off offensive rebounds to put the Bearcats in the lead, 24-21, in the final seconds of the half, but McGowan hit another deep three at the buzzer to tie things at 24 going into halftime.

Turnovers marred the beginning of the second half, with Bernie’s Jesse Shelton nabbing the ball away on Dexter’s opening possession. Jake Cox quickly stole the ball back for the Bearcats, but neither team was able to find the bottom of the rim until McGowan hit his fourth three of the night for the Mules with 6:30 left in the quarter.

Flannigan hit a deep three for the ‘Cats and came up with a big block on Bernie’s Sammy Walker on the next possession. Cox was good from behind the arc for the ‘Cats to give Dexter a two-point lead with three minutes left in the frame.

Flannigan tipped in a missed Miller jumper to increase Dexter’s lead to five, but McGowan hit his fifth three of the night on the ensuing possession to cut the lead back to two. The Bearcats went on a quick 6-0 run that was capped by a beautiful Flannigan finger-roll at the buzzer. The third quarter ended with a 41-33 Bearcat lead.

Miller got yet another takeaway in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but scoring for both teams stalled until Robey hit his second three of the night for Dexter. Jake Lee completed a three-point play with 3:30 left in the contest, and Hester drained another three on the next possession to push the Bearcats’ lead to 15.

Shipman hit back-to-back threes for the Mules to cut Dexter’s lead to 11 with two minutes left in the game. Even though the ‘Cats went 1 of 5 from the free-throw line in the fourth, they were still able to hang on to the lead and win the game 56-49.

“Rebounding and all around effort were the keys tonight; we wanted it more tonight than we did last time we played,” said Tyler Miller after the game. “Effort was the biggest thing. We played to win instead of playing to not lose.”

“Its the last tournament that I’ll ever play in [in this gym], and we made it a good one,” Senior Alan Flannigan said. “We didn’t handle the ball as well last game; we didn’t move the ball well so it was hard to get in our offensive flow. We made big shots down the stretch and everybody stepped up.”

“We pressured them as hard as we could,” said Dexter head coach Rob Nichols, “we played half-court man or zone and tried to limit their penetration.”

“We weren’t very happy about that [shot at the buzzer]. We didn’t finish the quarter very well; we forced it where we should have been taking the last shot and he [McGowan] hit a tough shot, that’s what he does. Those shots [Cameron] Shipman hit at the end of the game, you’ve gotta give him credit. Those were tough shots,” Nichols commented.

“The kids did a good job; we worked on these defensive adjustments for four or five days, and for them to play as well as they did, its a good thing. We forced them [Bernie] to take some shots and our guys rebounded well.”

Nichols gave the Bernie squad its due, noting the team was tenacious and hard-working throughout the night.

“Bernie is a team that isn’t going to quit. They’re well-coached and they play hard. Any time you can beat them you know you’ve played well; they’re a good basketball team with good basketball players,” the Dexter coach said.