Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer

Bernie, Missouri – The Bernie Mules traveled once again to Bloomfield, Missouri to compete in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament Tuesday evening.

The number one seed Mules were ready to kick the Cubs back to Bell City as they overpowered them by 27 points.

With four Bernie players hitting double digits on the night, the Mules were just unstoppable building their record to 15 – 3 on the season.

David Baker (#31) led the Mules with 20 points.  Troy Kirkpatrick (#14) had 18 points for the night with Sam Turner (#45) at 15 points.  B.J. Jennings (#12) hit the basket for total 12 points.

Mules Coach Brad Botsch of Bernie commented, “I thought Bell City really has improved a lot since the first time we played them.”

“We have high expectations for ourselves defensively, and I felt our kids lacked focus and toughness on the defensive side of the ball tonight,” continued Botsch.

As the boys headed to the locker room at half-time the score was Bernie 44, Bell City 28.  Bernie was able to score 26 points in the 3rd quarter which sealed the win.  Final score Bernie 86 Bell City 59.

Botsch went on to say, “We will really have to get ourselves ready if we are going to beat Bloomfield on their home floor Thursday night.”

They return to the SCAA Tournament on Thursday night to take on the Wildcats at 8:30 p.m.  This should be a real treat to see as these two schools battle for a chance to compete on Friday night in the Championship game.  Bloomfield had a very exciting night  beating Puxico in triple overtime.

The Bernie Mules JV team has also increased their winning record to 15 - 1 and will play Advance on Thursday at 5:30 in the SCAA Tournament.