Written by
Beth Farrar, SMT Writer
On Friday night, the Bloomfield Wildcats overtook the Puxico Indians by only five points. The game was played at Bloomfield and both teams have been doing fairly well this season with both wins and losses. The final score of the night’s game was 67 to 62, with the Wildcats defending their home court.
During the first quarter, the Wildcats took the lead. Senior Caleb Baker (#2) made four out of four free throws for the Wildcats when the game first began. The Wildcats sustained the lead but the Indians were trailing behind them in points. Both Zach Tucker and Austin Teichman from the Puxico team were leading the first quarter for their team with multiple layups. Baker scored a total of nine points for the Wildcats and with the help of his teammates and their layups, the Wildcats held the lead at the end of the first quarter by merely three points with the score of 19 to 16. In the first quarter, Bloomfield made 100% of their free throws while Puxico only made 50%.
When the second quarter started, the Wildcats took off running with the ball and got even further away from their opponents, slowly increasing their previous three point lead. Baker continued to lead in points for the Wildcats, making two layups and a three pointer with time ticking away. Senior Zac Goode, who trailed behind his teammate Baker in points, made both of his free throws and managed to get a three pointer past the Indian’s tight defense. The Indians continued to play defensively as Tucker managed to break through the wall of Wildcats and get multiple layups just as he did in the first quarter. The second quarter ended with the Wildcats gaining an even larger lead over their visitors, with a score of 34 to 26.
After the teams reassembled onto the court after half time, the Indians stepped up their game, with each of their players scoring many layups. Teichman led the Indians in the third quarter, scoring a total of six points, but he could not keep up with Goode, who scored a total of eight points for the Wildcats. The Wildcats did not have the chance to sink any free throws in the third quarter, but the Indians made 75% of their free throws, only scoring one point less than the Wildcats did in the third quarter. With the Wildcats scoring eighteen points and the Indians scoring 17, the score of the third quarter came to 52 to 43.
With nearly a ten point lead, the Wildcats entered the final quarter with high hopes while the Indians pushed harder and tried their best. Brett Ruch scored a total of eight points for the Wildcats. He scored all of his points during the final quarter through free throws, not missing a single one. He was followed in scoring by Baker and Thomas Sanders, who also made a number of free throws. The home team did not get past the Indians’ defense during the fourth quarter, forcing them to score all of their points through the free throws that they had made.
Teichman and Tucker scored a total of sixteen points by putting both of their efforts together. Although the Wildcats couldn’t break through the Indians’ defense, both Teichman and Tucker seemed to easily get four layups each, totaling at sixteen points. Their teammates, Jacob Plunkett and Josh Harp, also helped by tossing up a layup and making a three point shot.
The Puxico Indians played hard and seemed to shrink their opponents lead near the end of the final quarter but the Bloomfield Wildcats came out on top with a final score of 67 to 62 with a win on their own basketball court.
