Bloomfield, Missouri – Bloomfield Wildcat fans were on their feet rallying them to victory over the Malden Green Wave. Malden seeded second was expected to be in the semifinals if not the final championship game of the 58th Annual Christmas Tournament; however that is not the case.
Bloomfield knocked them down in the quarterfinal game Saturday night in front of a packed crowd and secured their place in the semifinals on Monday. Final score 54-47.
Malden jumped out to an early lead in first few minutes of the game, but the Wildcats ran the ball to the basket scoring the next 14 points.
“I think we finally relaxed,” stated Bloomfield’s coach Jason Karnes. “I think we were "amped" up and caught in the moment the first few minutes. Once we called a timeout, relaxed and got in our stuff we go a lot ore confident.”
Tyler Battles tallied all 14 of his points in the first half including one 3-pointer. Noah Vandiver finished with a game-high 27 points.
“Tyler Battles played a great game,” Karnes said. “He had about two really good offensive possessions in that stretch.”
“We’ve got guys who can make shots and get to the hole,” continued Karnes. “If we will just stay aggressive and play our game we feel we can be successful.”
Malden’s Cortez Dobbins finished with 18 points including one trey. Trevor Ison tallied 11 points and added a trey and Alejandro Gordon recorded 8 points hitting two 3-pointers.
“Last night and tonight we ran our sets and the guys did a great job of executing them Karnes added. “Then Noah has to go finish them off. He’s played tremendous the last two nights because he really went to the rim and finished well.”
Bloomfield is slated to take on the #3 seeded Kennett Indians on Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. Malden is scheduled to play Dexter at 5:30 on Monday.
“It was just a total team effort. We played three or four different defenses. We did a really good job of mixing it up and executing all our sets and that’s what it was going to take,” commented Karnes. “We rebounded on the defensive end tremendously and that’s what you have got to do against them to be successful.”
Final score #7 Bloomfield 54, #2 Malden 47
Bloomfield 13 16 17 8 - 54
Malden 12 15 10 10 - 47
Bloomfield (54) - Cameron Pulley 3, Peyton Bell 3, Nathan Newell 3, Tyler Battles 14, Noah Vandiver 27, Alex Gibbs 4. FG 20, FT 11/21, F 16. (3-pointers: Hector 1, Bell 1, Battles 1. Fouled Out: None)
Malden (47) - Alejandro Gordon 8, Shaeen Perkins 5, Cortez Dobbins 18, Shamaudre Barber 2, Orlandis Farr 3, Trevor Ison 11. FG 16, FT 9/11, F 23 (3 pointers: Gordon 2, Perkins 1, Dobbins 1, Farr 1, Ison 1. Fouled Out: Dobbins, Barber).
