Bloomfield, Missouri – The Bernie Mules won the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Tuesday evening in front of a packed crowed of fans!
The Mules jumped on the board first and were able to secure a 6 to 7 point lead throughout the duration of the game with the exception of a few close calls. At the end of the first period they led by only one point. Bernie scored double digits in each of the four periods to secure their win over Kennett 49 – 45.
“We kept getting it up to seven, eight or nine and then they would fight right back,” commented Bernie head basketball coach Brad Botsch. “A good program like Kennett is going to do that. Coach Vaughan is one of the best coaches in the area. His kids are going to play hard. They gave us trouble with their pressure, but you cannot say enough about a kid like Matt Vernon and his ball-handling tonight. He had two guys on him pretty well all night and still found a way to get us into our defense.”
Kennett’s Carlos Turner tallied a team-high 11 points including three 3-pointers. Rantrell Caruthers finished with 9 points before fouling out. He also hit one trey. Andre Oliver and Jad Kenny each scored 8 points.
Matt Vernon, a senior, scored 11 points for the Mules. “We just wanted to execute Coach Botsch’s game plan,” stated Vernon. “If we got the lead we could control the tempo and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Powerhouse Caleb Ellenburg tallied a game-high 23 points including one 3-pointer. “We worked really hard and we thought we could win this tournament coming in,” Bernie athlete Caleb Ellenburg stated. “We knew we were the four seed and had some work to do, but we were really ready to win it. Most of us were here last year on the team and we were really excited to get another chance at Kennett.”
“Caleb had an outstanding tournament,” Botsch stated. “He does what he does. He hits tough shots. Just when you think you cannot hit that shot he will take it up over two or three guys that are three or four inches taller than him and knock it down. You just cannot say enough about him and the rest of the kids on our team. Everybody on our team contributed in a positive way tonight.”
Bernie (10-1) will take a break for about a week and return to action on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 when they travel to Oran.
“We are not one of those teams that is going to walk in here and show-off our offensive fire power,” Botsch said. “We are going to have to grind things out. These kids have worked hard all summer for this moment. They lift weights and religiously put in the time. That kind of culminates tonight when you get to celebrate a championship!”
“I just cannot say enough about how hard our kids fought and the heart they displayed,” continued Botsch. “They played all out and had an everything you got performance.”
Final Score #4 Bernie Mules 49, #3 Kennett Indians 45
Bernie 11 12 14 12 - 49
Kennett 10 9 13 13 - 45
Bernie (49) – Caleb Ellenburg 23, Brandon Sparks 6, Matt Vernon 11, Gavin Smith 4, devin Trammell 5. FG 21, FT 5/9, F 16. (3-pointers: Ellenburg 1, Trammell1. Fouled Out: Trammell)
Kennett (45) – Carlos Turner 11, Andre Oliver 8, Jaylean Kinnon 2, Jad Kenny 8, Rantrell Caruthers 9, Fred Gooden 5, Jarvis Stewart 2. FG 14, FT 12/16, F 16. (3-pointers: Caruthers 2, Turner 3. Fouled Out: Caruthers.)
Bloomfield, Missouri - The 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament will be a rematch between the Bernie Mules and the Kennett Indians. The Indians came out on top last year and have won four of the last five Bloomfield Christmas Tournaments. Holcomb defeated Kennett in 2012.
The #4 seeded Mules defeated the #1 seed Hayti in semifinal action on Monday 45-38 in overtime. Bernie and Hayti entered overtime tied at 36 all.
“I am really proud of our kids tonight,” Stated Bernie head basketball coach Brad Botsch. “We didn’t play real clean tonight though. Hayti probably didn’t’ feel like they did either, but I am real proud of our kids for getting another gutsy win. We knew at the beginning of the year we were going to have a lot of games like this and they would come down to the wire. I am just proud of them for finding a way to get it done!”
Brandon Burden tallied a team-high 12 points for the Kennett Indians. Idaqual Presberry scored 10 points and Devan Riddick hit three 3-pointers adding 11 points to the board. Will Smith hit one trey.
Caleb Ellenburg scored a game-high 25 points for the Mules including one trey. Matt Vernon finished with 8 points and one trey. Brandon Sparks recorded 7 points including a 3-pointer and Devin Trammell scored 5 points including a trey.
Bernie finished the first period with a one point lead over Hayti and only increased the gap by four at the half.
Hayti’s defense all but shut down the Mules’ scoring in the 3rd quarter holding them to just 3 points. It was really in overtime that the Mules came alive and prevented the Indians from scoring.
“We have got to have better third quarters,” continued Botsch. “We played timid out of halftime and I don’t know why. It was like we were scared to miss a shot.”
“They had run a couple of sets that they had gotten some looks out of,” Botsch said of Hayti’s inability to score in the last two minutes of overtime. “We kind of told the kids what we thought they were going to do and took it away.”
Final score #4 Bernie 45, #1 Hayti 38 (OVERTIME)
Bernie 12 11 3 10 (9) - 45
Hayti 11 8 11 6 (2) - 38
Bernie (45) – Matt Vernon 8, Brandon Sparks 7, Caleb Ellenburg 25, Devin Trammell 5. FG 16, FT 9/11, F 7. (3-pointers: Vernon 1, Sparks 1, Ellenburg 1, Trammell 1. Fouled Out: None).
Hayti (38) – Devan Riddick 11, Will Smith 5, Indaqual Presberry 10, Brandon Burden 12. FG 16, FT 2/5, F 12. (3-pointers: Riddick 3, Smith 1. Fouled Out: Farr).
Bernie last won the title at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament in 2008.
“Anytime you get a chance to play for the championship it is special, especially up here,” stated Botsch. “This is the fourth one we have played in since Coach Long and I have been here. We have won one and lost two and I told the guys ‘we would sure like to be .500 after this next one.’ We are going to come out and give it all we have. We are going to face a good team and hopefully we will be ready to go Tuesday night.”
Tonight's championship game begins at 8:30 p.m. in Bloomfield!
Bloomfield, Missouri – The #3 seeded Kennett seemed to be unstoppable against the #7 seeded Bloomfield Wildcats on Monday evening the second match of the semifinals of the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Late in the 3rd quarter Tyler Battles rallied and hit three straight 3-pointers for Bloomfield.
“The option we had was to start shooting as quick as we could, hope a couple fall and hope they miss some free throws on the other end,” commented Bloomfield’s head coach Jason Karnes. “I thought in that stretch we competed a lot harder than what we did for a lot of the game. And again, a lot of that has to do with Kennett. They are a great program and are well coached.”
“Those last few minutes we played really well,” continued Karnes. “I wish we could have found a way to do that a few more minutes though.”
Noah Vandiver tallied a game-high 22 points for the Wildcats and hit one trey. Tyler Battles finished with 16 points. Nathan Newel hit one trey.
Kennett scored double digits in each of the four quarters.
Andre Oliver tallied a team-high 16 points for Kennett. Rantrell Caruthers tallied 13 points including one trey.
Final Score #3 Kennett 59, #7 Bloomfield 53
Bloomfield 7 10 12 24 - 53
Kennett 13 13 16 17 - 59
Bloomfield (53) – Tim Hector 1, Peyton Bell 3, Nathan Newell 5, Austin Bond 3, Tyler Battles 16, Noah Vandiver 22, Alex Gibbs 3. FG 15, FT 18/28, F 14. (3-pointers: Newell 1, Battles 3, Vandiver 1. Fouled Out: Vandiver)
Kennett (59) – Rantrell Caruthers 13, Carlos Turner 5, Landon Vaughan 2, Fred Gooden 3, Jarvis Stewart 5, Andre Oliver 16, Jaylean Kinnon 6, Jad Kenny 4. FG 24, FT 9/16, F 21. (3-pointers: Caruthers 1, Stewart 1. Fouled Out: None)
Bloomfield will play for 3rd place at 7:00 p.m. against Hayti at the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament slated for Tuesday, December 30, 2014.
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).
Bloomfield, Missouri – The #4 seeded Bernie Mules took control and secured their win over Twin Rivers Saturday at the 58th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament by a score of 51 – 36.
Seth Snider tallied a team-high 12 points for Twin Rivers. Chance Wilkerson hit one 3-pointer.
Caleb Ellenburg paced the Mules with 21 points including one trey. Brandon Sparks tallied 13 points and Gavin Smith finished with 10 points.
Bernie is scheduled to go against top-seeded Hayti on Monday in the championship semifinal at 7:00 p.m.
Hayti is undefeated and seeded in first defeated #8 South Pemiscot 64-51 in a quarterfinal match-up on Saturday.
Twin Rivers will play South Pemiscot at 4:00 p.m. on Monday.
Final Score #4 Bernie 51, #5 Twin Rivers 36
Twin Rivers 12 5 6 13 - 36
Bernie 12 7 12 20 - 51
Twin Rivers (36) – Jase Worley 4, Chance Wilkerson 5, Andrew Mittelstadt 6, Josh Suiter 9, Seth Snider 12. FG 17, FT ½, F 17. (3-pointers: Wilkerson 1. Fouled Out: None)
Bernie (51) – Matt Vernon 7, Brandon Sparks 13, Caleb Ellenburg 21, Gavin Smith 10. FG 16, FT 18/22, F 5. (3-pointers: Ellenburg 1. Fouled Out: None)
