Dexter, Missouri – The Dexter Bearcats scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to secure their victory over the Puxico Indians 66-59 Tuesday evening.
“I thought the first half we came out and laid down to be honest,” commented DHS head basketball coach Josh Dowdy. “But we showed some grit in the 3rd and 4th quarters and battled back. It’s been a while since we have won three in a row so hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.” Dexter defeated Bloomfield, Bernie and now Puxico. All Stoddard County teams.
Ethan Flowers tallied a game-high 25 points for Dexter. He hit five treys and in the fought back in the fourth quarter he scoring 12 points to defeat the Indians.
“Flowers had a great game for us,” Dowdy said. “He shot it well, but also handled the ball when we needed him to and secured some big rebounds.”
The Indians took their largest lead with about minute left in the third quarter forcing Dexter to either score or throw in the towel.
“We went on a 9-0 run to close out the third quarter to gain some momentum,” stated Dowdy. “We caused them some problems with our press. It definitely tilted the game in our direction, no question. The kids came to the sideline at the end of the third quarter ready to finish Puxico off in the fourth quarter.”Austin Chesser finished with 13 points. He made five of seven free throws he attempted. Jacob Pedigo and Jason Jarrell also were in double digits adding 12 points each.
“It is nice to see we have four guys in double digits for a second straight game,” Dowdy said. “It shows we know how to share the ball and we are unselfish. To win the county championship that’s what we will have to continue to do.”
Seth Luttrell hit 15 points for Puxico with Levi Woods tallying 13 more.
“Our goal was to create a pace to make their ball handlers perform instead of having them walk it down the floor and lob it to Tucker,” continued Dowdy. “He is a such a presence inside and a tough match-up for us. Puxico was much more hungrier than we were tonight.”
The SCAA Tournament begins on Monday, but before that the Bearcats must travel to New Madrid and play on Friday evening. Game time 6:00 p.m.
“We have to value each possession on offense and defense to be successful. We will have to play better next week when we meet them again in the first round of the SCAA Tournament,” Dowdy stated.
Third-seeded Dexter and sixth-seeded Puxico will meet again at 8:00 p.m. Monday, January 25th at Bloomfield in the quarterfinal of the SCAA Varsity Boys Basketball Tournament.
Final Score Dexter 66, Puxico 59
Puxico 14 13 18 14 - 59
Dexter 16 7 19 24 - 66
Puxico (59) – Levi Woods 13, Cory Pratt 6, Dalton King 2, Zach McCoy 7, Seth Luttrell 15, Jordan Burch 8, Zach Tucker 9. FG 25, FT 5/12, F 21. (3-pointers: Levi Woods 1, Cory Pratt 2, Seth Luttrell 1. Fouled Out: Zach Tucker.)
Dexter (66) – Jason Jarrell 12, Peyton Pollock 3, Jacob Pedigo 12, Austin Chesser 13, Ethan Flowers 25, Tyler Heil 1. FG 21, FT 18/27, F 16. (3-pointers: Ethan Flowers 5, Peyton Pollock 1, Fouled Out: Noah Kronk)
