Bloomfield, Missouri – In the first semifinal game of the evening the #1 ranked Bernie Mules outlasted #5 seeded Bloomfield Wildcats by a score of 44-40.

Noah Vandiver paced the Wildcats with 14 points.  Austin Bond recorded 11 points and Tyler Battles finished with 10 points.

The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 24-22 with 5:23 left in the third period.  Bernie’s Caleb Ellenburg hit four points to put the Mules back on top.

"Our kids really battled and competed hard against a very good Bernie team, we just couldn’t find a way to pull one out," stated Bloomfield coach Jason Karnes.  "Just need to bounce back and be ready to go again tomorrow against a good Woodland team." 

Matt Vernon and Alex Whitehead paced the Mules with 11 points each.  Whitehead hit three 3-pointers against the Wildcats.  Caleb Ellenburg and Devin Trammell each contributed 8 points with Trammell hitting two treys.

“Brandon’s got pneumonia and the flue,” explained Bernie’s coach Brad Botsch.  “He wasn’t at school yesterday and he was hurting.  Somebody had to step up and Alex did that in a big way and he deserved for those shots to go down.”

“Anytime you get to play for a championship you have got to feel good about it,” Botsch said.  “I think we will be fired up and ready to go and I am Dexter will be as well.  We will be as ready as we can and get out here and compete.”

Bernie will play Dexter in the Championship game on Friday at 8:30 p.m.

Bloomfield will play Woodland at 5:30 p.m. for 3rd place.

Final Score Bernie 44, Bloomfield 40

Bloomfield  9  9   11  11   - 40

Bernie        9  11  11  13  -  44

Bloomfield (40) – Nathan Newell 5, Austin Bond 11, Tyler Battles 10, Noah Vandiver 14.  FG 17, FT 4/6, F 10.  (3-pointers: Newell 1, Battles 1.  Fouled Out: None)

Bernie (44) – Matt Vernon 11, Brandon Sparks 2, Caleb Ellenburg 8, Alex Whitehead 11, Devin Trammell 8, Gavin Smith 4.  FG 16, FT 7/10, F 11. (3-pointers: Alex Whitehead 3, Trammell 2.  Fouled Out: None)