By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

The Bearcats needed one more win to make it to the championship game in the Class 4, District 1 tournament. Facing off against a Notre Dame team that the ‘Cats had split one-of-two games with during the regular season, Dexter couldn’t come up with the win in front of the hometown crowd, falling to the Bulldogs with a 45-38 final score.

Turnovers peppered the entire game for Dexter - Notre Dame’s Alex Beussink, Jacob Tolbert, and Joseph Siebert all had a steal in the first quarter, and Nathan Meystedt had two.


Jake Lee dropped in an easy two at the 7:30 mark to record Dexter’s first points of the night, but the ‘Cats wouldn’t score again until Alan Flannigan put in two quick jumpers with less than three minutes left in the first. Notre Dame put on a quick 11-0 run, aided by a three from Beussink at the 4:00 mark. After an offensive board and putback, Jacob Bollinger had a chance for a three-point play with 45 seconds left in the first, but couldn’t connect on the free throw. Notre Dame held a 14-8 lead after the opening frame.

Two free-throws from Flannigan at the 5:50 mark cut the Bulldogs’ lead to five points. A deep three from Miller at the 3:20 mark put the ‘Cats back by only two. Flannigan hit a 15-foot jumper to tie the game at 17 with just under three minutes left to play, and a layup from Jake Cox gave the ‘Cats their first lead of the night less than 30 seconds later. Bessink hit a jumper from the free-throw line to tie the game at 19 under a minute left on the clock, and a missed buzzer-beater from Jonathan Lynch sent the two teams into the locker room still tied at 19.


Notre Dame continued to nab up loose balls and errant passes from the Bearcats, with Cody Heisserer getting one steal and Lynch getting two. Flannigan blocked a Heisserer shot at the 6:00 mark. After a technical foul was called on Logan Robey, Lynch hit one-of-two free-throws for Notre Dame, as well as a three on the ensuing possession. Cox picked off a Beussink pass with 15 seconds left in the third, took it the length of the floor and missed his layup, but Flannigan was there with an offensive rebound and putback as time expired. The two teams were still tied after three quarters of play, 27-27.

Tolbert finally showed up offensively for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter, recording 11 points, including a three-point play. Jordan Fitts hit a three for the ‘Cats at the 6:10 mark to cut Notre Dame’s lead to two points, but a three from Beussink put the Bulldogs back up by 5 a minute later. Cox hit another three with less than a minute remaining in the game to pull the Bearcats within four, but a goaltending call on Miller on a Tolbert layup attempt stopped the Dexter surge. Tolbert held the dagger for the Bulldogs, however, and threw down a hard dunk with 10 seconds left in regulation to put the final score at 45-38.

“We felt like if we didn’t turn the basketball over and hit shots when we came down the floor, we had a good chance of winning this game, “ Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game. “We just had several spurts of turnovers. They were guarding us and getting good pressure, but a lot of it was unforced stuff, I think. You just can’t do that this time of year and expect to win ballgames.”

“I thought our effort was great, just our execution wasn’t the best at times,” Alan Flannigan said after the game. “They [Notre Dame] did a really good job of making us kick the ball out and take perimeter shots instead of scoring in the paint. We had a lot of turnovers, but you can’t fault our effort in this loss.”


 With tonight’s close loss to the Notre Dame Bulldogs, the Bearcats were eliminated from the District Tournament, putting an end to a solid season. The ‘Cats finished with a 14-12 record.


Dexter will lose six seniors this season - Jake Cox, Bryn Hester, Alan Flannigan, Logan Robey, Jacob Bollinger, and Taylor Jarrell - but Nichols had nothing but praise for them, both on and off the court.

“All six of them are great kids, some of the best that we’ve had in a while,” Nichols commented. “Any teacher that you talk to talks about how respectful they all are. Most of them are three sport athletes, and every one of them are two sport athletes, so they’ve represented the Bearcats well, not only on the athletic field, but in the classroom and the community. If you have the opportunity to coach good [kids like these], that’s about all you can ask for. I’m proud to have had the opportunity to work with them.”


 Photos above Top Photo: Tyler Miller goes up against Cody Heisserer during Thursday night’s District Tournament loss to Notre Dame.
Bottom photo: Alan Flannigan ducks under Notre Dame’s Jacob Tolbert for two. Flannigan led the Bearcats in scoring, with 15 points and an impressive 16 rebounds in the contest.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	FINAL
DEXTER	8	11	8	11	38
NOTRE DAME	14	5	8	18	45

DEXTER: Flannigan-15. Cox-7. Miller-7. Bollinger-4. Fitts-3. Lee-2.

NOTRE DAME: Tolbert-15. Meystedt-13. Beussink-8. Heisserer-4. Lynch-4. Reddin-1.