By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BROSELEY - The Twin Rivers Royals played host to the Bernie Mules on Tuesday night . Despite a sloppy second half, the Mules were able to slow down Michael Snider and the Royals to take the 61-52 victory.

Both teams were in their first games since the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. The Mules were able to bring home fifth place, while the Royals were eliminated in the consolation semifinals.


The one-two punch of Matt Eaves and David Baker paced the Mules with 20 and 17 respective points, while Sam Turner added 14 points.

“It was kind of the tale of two halves for us. We played pretty well in the first half and not very well in the second,” Bernie head coach Brad Botsch said. “When our group is focused, driven, and passionate, we compete very well. We just need to find consistency for four quarters and earn a complete win.”

The Mules are heading into the heart of their conference schedule in the coming weeks, and Botsch noted the difficult games looming on the horizon.

“We have 4 conference games in a row now with Advance, Dexter, Bloomfield, and Puxico,” he continued, “and we will need a great amount of focus and buy-in from our kids to win them. Hopefully, we’ll do what we need to do in this stretch and put together a solid run.”

In JV action, the Mules were able to down the Royals with a 69-30 final score.

The Mules will be in action again on Thursday night, when they return home to face the Advance Hornets. Tip is set for 6:00 p.m.

Photo Above:
David Baker puts up a shot against a Portageville defender during the second round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament - SMT File photo by Andrew Cato.

ShowMe Scoreboard, 1.04.2012

Games played Tuesday, January 3, 2012

High School Girls

• Delta New Year’s Tournament
• St. Vincent 52, Scott County Central 31
• Delta 48, Chaffee 32
• Woodland 63. Saxony Lutheran 48

High School Boys

• North Pemiscot 66, Richland 56
• Bernie 61, Twin Rivers 52
• Scott City 64, South Pemiscot 26
• Perryville 69, North County 74
• NMCC 58, Blytheville 56 (OT)
• Bell City 73, East Prairie 66
• Notre Dame 57, Fredericktown 31
• Jackson 52, Leopold 51
• Kennett 57, Malden 44
• Naylor 69, Campbell 56
• Hayti 53, Senath-Hornersville 39
• Doniphan 68, Greenville 34

NCAA Men

• Mizzou 87, Oklahoma 49
• Kentucky 73, AR-Little Rock 51
• Ohio State 71, Nebraska 40
• Seton Hall 75, Connecticut 63
• Michigan State 63, Wisconsin 60
• Fordham 60, Harvard 54

Tonight

• Mizzou Women at Baylor
• Layfayette vs. Penn

Photo Above: It was a packed house at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday night as the Mizzou Tigers overwhelmed Oklahoma to keep its perfect season record! (Photo courtesy UM)

NEWARK, N.J. - Lafayette never snapped a cold-shooting funk on Monday against NJIT, losing a 78-58 decision to open 2012. The Leopards shot a season-low 20 percent from long distance while NJIT knocked down 13 three-pointers.

It was the first win for the Highlanders (6-7) in the five-game series with Lafayette that began in 2006. Four-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week Seth Hinrichs led Lafayette (5-9) with 14 points to go along with a team-high five rebounds and two blocks. NJIT's Chris Flores had five three-pointers en route to 23 points and was joined in double figures by and Arjun Ohri with a career-high 19 and Isaiah Wilkerson with 17.

It was a back and forth affair in the opening stanza. The teams were tied on eight different occasions, the final at 4:08 when Ryan Willen (11 points) hit a jumper. The Highlanders scored the final nine points of the half with Ohri hitting a pair of three's and Flores adding another at 1:06 to lead 34-25 at halftime. Ohri had 11 in the first half.

Lafayette shot 35 percent from the floor in the opening half, including 27 percent (4-for-15) from three where NJIT shot 58 percent (7-for-12). Lafayette never made it to the bonus in the first half, taking just four free throws in the opening stanza, eventually reaching the bonus with 2:35 left in the game.

NJIT opened the second half with five unanswered, all from Ryan Woods, to extend the lead to 39-25 just 1:04 in. The Leopards trimmed the margin to nine on a backdoor feed from Willen to Jim Mower (nine points) who converted a three-point play to cut the deficit to 39-30 with 17:46 left.

The Highlanders used an 8-2 run over a two-minute span midway through the second half to take a commanding lead 58-39 lead at 9:05, an advantage NJIT extended to as many as 27 points in the final minutes. Alan Flannigan scored five points in the final 24 seconds, including his first career three-pointer at the buzzer, to run the final to 78-58.

Lafayette hosts Penn on Wednesday in a doubleheader at Kirby Sports Center. The Lafayette women host Columbia beginning at 5 p.m. and the men will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – Tyler Stone scored a game-high 24 points and added six rebounds to lead Southeast Missouri (7-7, 2-0) to a 74-56 win over Jacksonville State (5-11, 0-3) Monday night at the Show Me Center.

Southeast, which has won three-straight games, is 2-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time since 1999-2000. That year, the Redhawks beat Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State to start league play under then-head coach Gary Garner.

“This was a really good win for us,” said Southeast head coach Dickey Nutt. “We got off to a strong start and I was pleased with our shooting.”

Southeast stormed out of the gate with a double-digit run for the second-straight game, scoring the first 11 points of the contest.

Nick Niemczyk buried a three-pointer on the Redhawks opening possession, before Stone, Marcus Brister and Leon Powell combined for the next eight points in less than four minutes.

JSU responded with a 16-4 run of its own to take its only lead of the game when Brian Williams' jumper gave the Gamecocks a 17-16 edge at the 10:53 mark.

Southeast and JSU would then battle to a 20-20 tie before combining for eight turnovers in a period of 7:26.

The Redhawks, however, managed to score 14 of the last 22 points of the half and dropped in five-straight after Stephen Hall converted a three-point play to cut Southeast's lead to 29-28 with 1:45 on the clock.

Marland Smith's three-pointer (:54) and Brister's layup (:01) in the final minute gave Southeast a 34-28 lead at the intermission.

After Darion Rackley's layup sliced Southeast's lead to 43-41 with 13:57 left to play in the second half, the Redhawks used a 15-0 run to blow the game open.

JSU went scoreless for 5:04, missing eight field goals and committing three turnovers during that stretch.

Meanwhile, Brister completed a pair of three-point plays and Smith and Niemczyk drained back-to-back threes to fuel the decisive surge. Niemczyk's three pushed Southeast's lead to 58-41 at the 9:14 mark.

The Redhawks led by as many as 20 points twice in the last eight minutes en route to their seventh win of the season.

Southeast, which owns a .500 record for the first time under Nutt, shot 50 percent (25-of-50) from the field and a season-high 81 percent (17-of-21) at the free throw line.

Defensively, the Redhawks forced 13 turnovers and held JSU to a .317 field goal percentage. The Gamecocks made 19 of their 60 field goal attempts. JSU shot just 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from three-point range, as well.

Stone, who scored double figures in his eighth-consecutive start, shot 10-of-16 from the field and 4-of-5 at the free throw line. It was the third time Stone scored 20 or more points in a game this season.

Brister followed with 14 points, a game-high eight rebounds and four assists.

Smith rounded out Southeast's double-digit scorers with 11 points and a game-high six assists. He also drained at least three 3-pointers in each of his last four games.

Williams led all JSU scorers with 19 points.

The Gamecocks, who have now lost 12-straight road games, fell to 0-8 away from home this year.

Southeast hits the road to face UT Martin on Jan. 5. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., CT, at the Elam Center.

Click here for a full breakdown of the game's stats!

ShowMe Scoreboard, 1.03.2012

Games played Monday, Jan. 2, 2012

 

High School Girls

• Dexter 72, Farmington 41
• Lesterville 53, Saxony Lutheran 32
• Perryville 52, Ste. Genevieve 41 

NCAA Men

• NJIT 78, Lafayette 58
• SEMO 74,  Jacksonville State 56
• Baylor 61, Texas A&M 52
• Virginia 57, LSU 52
• Rhode Island 78, Boston College 72
• Tennessee 76, Chattanooga 63

NCAA Women

SEMO 66, Jacksonville State 48

• Ohio State 84, Iowa 71
• Penn State 82, Wisconsin 49
• E. Illinois 76, Murray State 56

Tonight

• Mizzou vs Oklahoma at Mizzou Arena