Dexter, Missouri - The Bearcat Event Center was the place to be Tuesday night as the long awaited contest between the neighboring communities of Dexter and Bloomfield was set to take place.  With a varsity record of 8-6, the Bloomfield Wildcats were favored, although coming off two regular season wins, the Bearcats were noticeably filled with a new confidence as the game started.

Not long into the contest, fans could quickly see that that this was going to be a tight basketball game.  Neither team could open up a large spread in the score with each of the first three quarters ending with Bloomfield having a 1-point lead at the end of one and tied at the end of quarter two and three (27 and 40 respectively). 

Bloomfield looked to have a slight upper hand in the first quarter as Austin Williamson (6-points) and Thomas Sanders (5-points) led the way for the Wildcats.  Caleb Baker hit a nice 3-point shot in the opening quarter, along with Austin Battles adding two free throws. 

The Bearcats answered within one point of Bloomfield as Chase Young (6) and DJ Dowdy (4) delivered strong aggressive moves to the basket.  Potts was very quick to spin from the high post and move down the lane to add 5-points for the 'Cats.

Both teams matched their defensive performances only allowing 11-points for the quarter.  Bloomfield's Zac Good found an open area on the court, adding three back-to-back three-point shots during the quarter.  Dowdy and Young both had a three-pointer each in the quarter combined with a couple of points by Potts and Jordan Miller, leaving the half time score tied at 27.

Dexter spread the offensive game in the third quarter among five players.  Zac Good for the Wildcats found yet another 3-pointer and Brett Ruch was able to break the ice on his offensive game.  Both teams scoring 13-points, the game entered the final quarter with the score Dexter 40 and Bloomfield 40.

The fourth quarter was a free-for-all as both teams worked hard to attack the basket.  Brett Ruch lead the Wildcats with 5-points in the quarter and Caleb Baker found another 3-point shot late in the game from the right corner. 

If you think that the time spent practicing free throws doesn't matter, double check that with  Dexter Bearcat coach, Rob Nichols.  His Bearcat team was 10 for 13 (near 77%) in the last quarter to win the game by a final score of 52 to 48.  Bearcats' Dowdy, Potts and Miller were two for two while Chase Young made four of six shots from the charity stripe to help ensure the victory.

"We didn't do enough things right down the stretch to be successful on the road tonight," commented Bloomfield's Head Coach Jason Karnes.  "We have got to find a level of consistency between our effort and execution for us to be competitive in a tough stretch of games coming up for us."

Bloomfield will return home this coming Friday to take on the Malden Greenwaves.  The Bearcats will take their game on the road to Bernie.

Junior Varsity:

The junior varsity teams were equally a good match up of talent between the two teams.  The Bearcats opened slowly in the first quarter, but powered back in the second quarter with 14-points to hold a 19 to 16 lead at half time.  Dexter continued to expand their lead in the 2nd half winning the game by a score of 42 to 39. 

Jacob Pedigo and Chandler Young shared the top spot of the scoring column for the Bearcats with 10-points each.  They were joined by a strong performance by Ethan Flowers with 8-points, Austin Aldridge with 5 and Cole Renken with 4.  Kendrick McCullough lead the Wildcats with 21-points.  Cole McClard and Nathan Newell each kicked in 6-points, Nathan Vandiver had 4-points and Austin Bond had 2-points.

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