BELL CITY, Mo. - After a disappointing week on the road last week, the Dexter Bearcats needed a big win to help build up momentum going into the next to last week of the regular season. The ‘Cats did just that, and put on quite a show Tuesday night (Feb. 8). After the final buzzer sounded, the Bearcats had defeated the Cubs, winning by 44 points.

The ‘Cats started the contest seemingly a bit fuzzy, with nearly half the squad coming off the bench after battling illness last week. Jerad Yates came up with a steal for the Cubs, and put the first two points of the contest on the board with a 15-foot jumper. Dexter’s Jake Cox picked off a Yates pass less than a minute later and dumped the ball to Alan Flannigan, who dropped in Dexter’s first points of the night. Tyler Miller hit a trey with 5:00 left in the first quarter, putting the ‘Cats up 5-4. Dexter senior Taylor Jarrell started off the night with two quick fouls, and was replaced by Jake Lee with 4:30 left in the opening frame.

Dexter mounted an impressive 20-0 run, but Alan Hess completed the three-point-play for the Cubs with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Miller hit two free-throws with 15 seconds on the clock to give Dexter a 25-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Dexter lurched out on another scoring spree to open the second quarter, aided by threes from Flannigan and Logan Robey. Bryn Hester came up with two steals in the quarter, and Miller had one steal. Dexter never had less than a 19 point lead in the quarter, and used bench players extensively; Junior Brandon Moore saw a lot of playing time. The ‘Cats ended the second quarter with another scoring run, 8-0, and went into halftime with a commanding 28 point lead.

Hester was again good from beyond the arc in the opening seconds of the second half. Flannigan blocked Yates’ 12-footer with 5:00 left in the frame, tipped in his own miss on the ensuing possession, and hit his second three of the night at the 2:30 mark. The bright spots for the Cubs in the frame were steals from Terrance Johnson and Aaron Smith, which led to two of their 12 points in the frame. Despite putting up the highest quarter point total of the evening, the Cubs were still facing a 39 point deficit after three quarters of action.


Robey was again good from three-point land, putting them back to being up by 39 with 5:00 left in the contest. The clock never stopped due to the ‘mercy rule’ during the fourth quarter, and that seemed to be about the only thing that could slow the Bearcats’ offensive attack down.

Miller came up with another steal that led to a Jake Cox layup with 4:10 left on the clock; Lee had an offensive rebound and putback less than a minute later. Alan Flannigan dunked over Bell City’s Cody Kight with 1:10 left on the clock. The Bearcats only scored 14 points in the frame, but still found themselves on top of a 44-point routing of the Bell City Cubs, with a 80-36 final score.

“We had really good defensive intensity,” said Alan Flannigan after the game. “We moved the ball better and didn’t turn it over as much, so we improved over the last couple games for sure.”

“Sometimes it just happens; you come out, feel a bit flat, and look like you’re not giving 100-percent. We got into it better in the second and third quarter.”

The Bearcats will be in action again Friday night, when they face the Kennett Indians at home at the Bearcat Event Center.

“They’ll probably do a lot of the same,” said Flannigan about the Indians. “Kennett plays like Kennett, regardless of the game or situation. Its going to be an emotional game for us, being senior night; plus, they beat us in the [Bloomfield] Christmas Tournament finals; they’ll come out hot, we’ll come out hot, and it will be a great game. We’ll have to play our best to get the win.”

The junior varsity portion of the Bearcats’ final regular-season home game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the BEC, with varsity action to follow. Senior recognition, honoring the senior basketball players and cheerleading squad members, will be held prior to tip-off of the varsity game.

Photos above
(top photo)Senior Taylor Jarrell guards Bell City's Terrance Johnson during Tuesday night's game at Bell City.
(lower photo)Head coach Rob Nichols talks to his Bearcat squad during the final quarter of the game.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	FINAL
DEXTER	25	18	23	14	80
BELL CITY	8	7	12	9	36

DEXTER	FG	3s	FT	TOTAL
Cox	4	--	1-2	9
Hester	3	1	--	9
Flannigan	6	2	0-2	18
Robey	2	2	--	10
Lee	5	--	0-1	10
Miller	3	1	5-8	14
Bollinger	2	--	4-6	8
Moore	--	--	1-2	1
Jarrell	--	--	1-2	1
BELL CITY	FG	3s	FT	TOTAL
Liggons	--	--	2-2	2
Yates	2	--	0-1	4
Johnson	4	--	0-1	4
Kight	1	--	--	2
Hess	1	--	6-7	9
Overby	2	--	--	4
Hughes	--	--	3-6	3
Vires	2	--	--	2