Bernie, Missouri - The 2016 Bernie Mules 5th grade basketball team's season is already underway, but they stopped long enough to get their group photo taken at a recent game.

These athletes are working hard to learn their sport and have only a few games left this season.  Please come out and support them at the Bernie Tournament on Saturday, January 30th when they take on Risco and Clarkton.  On January 23rd they travel to Campbell with a game time of 10:00 a.m.  On February 1st they play Malden at home at 6:00 p.m. and on February 13th they will participate in the Bell City Tournament.

Playing for the 5th grade Mules are #23 Joel Aycock, #25 Ryan Lawrence, #20 Nathan Stephens, #10 Tristan Johnson, #21 James Barks, #15 Hunter Null, #12 Tucker Anthony, and #30 Hunter Corzine.

Annapolis, Missouri - The Bernie Mules varsity basketball team endured a 44-42 loss on the road Tuesday evening at South Iron High School.

It was a close game right down to the buzzer.  South Iron came alive in the fourth quarter scoring 20 points to earn them a hometown win.

“We held a nine-point lead going into the 4^th quarter and didn’t finish the game,” commented head Bernie basketball coach Brad Botsch in a press release to the ShowMe Times.  “South Iron played harder than we did down the stretch and clearly wanted to win worse than we did.  Until we learn to dig deeper, we are going to continue to struggle.”

Nate Dillinger recorded a team-high 12 points for the Bernie Mules.

Dalton Hobgood tallied 9 points all on 3-pointers.

Hayce Burck and Alex Whitehead each hit one 3-pointer for Bernie.

Final Score South Iron 44, Bernie 42

Bernie          8   11   14    9  -  42

South Iron  7   13      4  20  -  44

Bernie (42) – Jayce Burk 6, Alan Pippins 4, Nate Dillinger 12, Alex Whitehad 7, Gavin Brown 4, Dalton Hobgood 9.  FG 13, FT 11/17, F 13 (3-pointers: Jayce Burck 1, Alex Whitehead 1, Dalton Hobgood 3.  Fouled Out: None).

South Iron (44) – Garrett Wilfong 5, Garrett Hovis 14, Sam Ivy 5, LaRon Cornell 6, Logan Lucus 10, Tyler Browers 4.  FG 17, FT 5/10, F 15. (3-pointers: Garrett Wilfong 1, Garrett Hovis 2, Logan Lucus 2.  Fouled Out: None).

In Junior Varsity action the Mules defeated South Iron 30-27 in two quarters.  Barnett recorded 10 points and Zoll tallied 9 points.  The JV squad is now 2-0 on the season.

Bernie (1-3) will be back in action on Friday, December 11th when they host Gideon.  Game time 6:00 p.m.

Pictured is Bernie Coach Brad Botsch at a game during the 2014 basketball season.

Bernie, Missouri - The 2015 Bernie Invitational Boys Basketball Tournament begins Monday, November 30, 2015 in the Mule Barn.

The Bloomfield Wildcats received the #1 seed and will play #8 seeded Risco at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.

Bernie seeded #4 will play #5 seeded Puxico at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

On Tuesday Twin Rivers with the #2 seed will play #7 seed Holcomb at 6:00 p.m. and the #3 seed Campbell will play #6 seed Piggot, AR.

Games will continue on Thursday with the semifinals and the Championship game will be played on Friday, December 4, 2015 at 8:30 p.m.

Photo above is from the 2014 basketball season.

Bernie, Missouri - Bernie baseball pitcher, Brock Beacham, signed to play at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri on Wednesday, November 17, 2015 at Bernie High School.

“From what I understand a lot of their money goes to education.  They are an academic-first school, then athletics kind of come in second, which is fine.  It is a very good school and that is what I was looking at more so than the athletic part, was the quality education,” stated Beacham at the signing.

Beacham will be majoring in biological sciences, pre-med and wants to pursue a career in Interventional Radiology.

Academics were very important to Beacham in choosing Missouri S&T.  In 2014, USA Today ranked Missouri S&T as one of the top three engineering schools in the country and U.S. News $ World Reports ranked Missouri S&T as the 138h best college in the country in 2015.

“I got a call from them back over the summer,” commented Beacham.  “They saw me pitch at a tournament in Springfield.  Obviously I was interested.  Any school that called, I was going to be interested.”

“We went there and Coach seemed like a very nice guy, a very sincere person,” continued Beacham.  “It’s a great academic school and one of the best academic smalls schools in the nation.  Just thinking about it, it was the best choice and the most obvious choice.”

Smiling Beacham said that they have an airplane hanger type thing with Astroturf and a really nice weight room.

Bernie finished their fall season 24-6, won the MSHSAA Class 2, District 1 Championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

I been working with him since he was in the 3^rd grade and training him.  He’s been a joy and is super sharp,” stated Todd Pennington, baseball trainer and owner of Balls ‘n Strikes in Cape Girardeau.  “I was able to work with him over the summers and in baseball camps.  I have gotten to know him and am proud of him.” 

“The one thing about Brock is that he entertains and he is a fun loving kid,” stated Bernie head baseball Coach Darrin Shipman.  “As a coach, one thing that sticks out is that he has great baseball knowledge and the second thing is that he has a great baseball I.Q.  He wants the ball and he wants to pitch.  Anytime you get a player that wants the ball it’s all-good.  He’s always having fun and enjoys life.”

“He led in pitching and hitting both during the fall season and that’s pretty tough,” commented Shipman.  “We look for big things in the spring.”

Shown in the photo sitting from left to right: Barry Beacham, Brock Beacham and Michelle Beacham.  Standing from left to right are Todd Pennington, Jeff Rodgers, and Darrin Shipman.