Bloomfield, Missouri -The No. 2 seeded Dexter Bearcats rallied from behind 19-13 at halftime to beat the No. 6 seeded defending champions the Kennett Indians 42-39 in the semifinal game of the 60th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Dexter's senior Jason Jarrell hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining to pad the Bearcats' lead to the final score.

"It was 19 -13 at halftime and we knew we had played poorly,” commented Dexter boys basketball coach Josh Dowdy. "The message at halftime was we knew we had played poor offensively, but were still doing what we needed to do on the defensive end. We wanted to continue to do what we were doing and if it didn’t work we might go out and run and jump at them. We did that to create a little offense and got a few steals. I felt like that helped pick up our momentum offensively.”

Jarrell scored 13 of his 15 points after the half.

“Our game plan was to let their three guards shoot it,” Dowdy said. “Their guards look so much for their two post players. We just weren’t going to bring the back line out. We were going to guard the entire perimeter with our top two defenders and we did. That’s why they only had 19 points at halftime. Unfortunately, we only scored 13.”

Gabe Jackson also finished in double digits recording 14 points.

Jarvis Stewart tallied 16 points including two 3-pointers for Kennett.  Patrick Maddox finished with 10 points.

Kennett plays No. 5 seeded Bloomfield for third place Thursday at 7 p.m.

Dexter, which suffered a 55 - 50 loss to Kennett in the 2015 Christmas title game, plays top-seeded Hayti in the championship Thursday at 8:30 p.m.

"It will definitely be a gut check of who’s legs can last the longest,” Dowdy said. “I just hope we can remember the burn we had in that locker room after last year’s championship and fight through it. But it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a battle. We are just happy to have the opportunity again."

Final Score Dexter 42, Kennett 39

Kennett    11   8     8   12   -  39

Dexter        9   4  16    13  -  42

Kennett (39) - Jay Davis 7, Patrick Maddox 10, Jarvis Stewart 16, Dawson Britt 2, Jad Kenny 2, Jaylean Kinnon 2.  FG 16, FT 5/8, F 15. (3-pointers: Stewart 2. Fouled Out: None).

Dexter (42) - Jason Jarrell 15, Ben Sindle 3, Clay Mullins 8, Ryan Mayo 2, Gabe Jackson 14.  FG 15, Ft 10/17, F 11. (3-pointers: Mullins 1, Sindle 1.  Fouled Out: None).