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).
Bloomfield, Missouri - Down by eight in the final quarter, the Hayti Indians turned up the head and made things more difficult for the Bloomfield Wildcats giving them a 62-58 victory during the championship semifinals of the 60th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
No. 1 seeded Hayti (8-2) will take on No. 2 seeded Dexter in the tournament championship on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
Kedron Rollings led the Indians with 16 points on 2 of 4 shooting from the floor and 11 of 12 from the free throw line.
Maurius Newbill and Kobe Cooper each added 10 for the Indians.
The Wildcats will take on No. 6 Kennett in the third-place game Thursday at 7 p.m. Dexter defeated Kennett 42 - 39 in the other semifinal to make their second consecutive title game appearance.
Hayti won their only other championship try in 2007 against Doniphan.Final Score Bloomfield 58, Hayti 62
Bloomfield 15 20 11 12 - 58
Hayti 15 11 14 22 - 62
Bloomfield (58) - Timmy Hector 14, Kyle Anderson 1, Matt Gibbs 2, Austin Phillips 5, Peyton Bell 23, Alex Gibbs 13. FG 20, FT 16/22, F 14. (3-pointers: Phillips 1, Bell 1. Fouled Out: None).
Hayti (62) - Kobe Cooper 10, Darius Jones 5, Maurius Newbill 10, Devante Robinson 5, Kedron Rollins 16, Chrivonte Moore 3, Kemron Rollings 7, Dayon Moore 4, Ivory Winters 2. Fg 21, Ft 16/19, F 19. (3-pointers: Newbill 1, Robinson 1, Kedron Rollings 1, C. Moore 1. Fouled Out: Cooper).
Bloomfield, Missouri - Malden defeated East Prairie 71-63 in the semifinal game of the 5th place bracket.
Eagles' Derez Tipler had a game-high 26 points including 8 treys, but it was not enough to hold off the Green Wave of Malden. Dushawn Butler tallied 19 points including 2 treys. Tyler Ison recorded 18 points and Chience Booker finished with 11 points for East Prairie.
Malden Green Wave Casey Gregory recorded 12 points. Luke Marcum finished with 11 points. He also had two 3-pointers.
East Prairie led at the end of the first three quarters. Malden exploded in the 4th period outscoring the Eagles 25 - 9 late to seal the deal.
Malden will take on No. 7 Portageville, who were 72-64 winners over No. 3 Doniphan, during the fifth-place game Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Final Score Malden 71, East Prairie 63
Malden 13 16 17 25 - 71
East Prairie 18 19 17 9 - 63
Malden (71) - Dushawn Butler 19, Broddric Annesser 7, Tyler ison 18, Malcom McBride 7, Tray Stevenson 2, Ned Lee 7, Chience Booker 11. FG 29, FT 6/11, F 17 (3-pointers: Butler 2, McBride 1, Lee 1, Booker 3. Fouled Out: None).
East Prairie (63) - Luke Marcum 11, Deverence Jones 7, Derez Tipler 26, Casey Gregory 12, Mason Bryars 6, Chad Housman 1. FG 20, FT 11/19, F 17 (3-pointers: Marcum 2, Jones 1, Tipler 8, Bryars 1. Fouled Out: Jones, Gregory).
Bloomfield, Missouri - Another Bloomfield Christmas Tournament is in the books and the 60th annual didn't disappoint especially for one team, the Dexter Bearcats. They took home the trophy for the first time in 12 years defeating Hayti in the Championship Game on Thursday evening.
Hayti took second place.
The Kennett Indians earned third place and the Bloomfield Wildcats finished 4th.
Malden came in 5th, Portageville 6th.
Twin Rivers finished first place consolation and Bernie finished second place in consolation.
The Bloomfield Christmas All-Tournament Team was announced at the end of the Championship Game during the trophy presentations:
Dexter Bearcats - Jason Jarrell and Gabe Jackson
Hayti Indians - Kemron Rollings and Kedron Rollings
Kennett Indians - Jad Kenny
Bloomfield Wildcats - Peyton Bell
Malden Green Wave - Tyler Ison
Portageville Bulldogs - Ian Torrey
Twin Rivers Royals - Chance Wilkerson
Bernie Mules - Nate Dillinger
Doniphan Dons - Klay Barton
East Prairie Eagles - Casey Gregory
Bloomfield, Missouri - Congratulations to the 6'4" forward junior Nate Dillinger of Bernie, Missouri . He led the list of the 60th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament Leading Scorers for 2016 with a total of 92 points.
Top Ten Scorers:
Nate Dillinger, Bernie 92
Ian Torrey, Portageville 83
Levi Woods, Puxico 79 and Hayden Thomas, Twin Rivers 79
Peyton Bell, Bloomfield 75
Casey Gregory, East Prairie 70
Chance Wilkerson, Twin Rivers 64
Tyler Ison, Malden 64
Klay Barton, Doniphan 62
Jad Kenny, Kennett 60
Dushawn Butler, Malden 59
Clay Mullins and Gabe Jackson of Dexter had 58 and 54 respectively. Michael Suite of Bernie and Kedron Rollings of Hayti each had 50. Jason Jarrell of Dexter finished with 49 and Timmy Hector of Bloomfield tallied 46 points during the four-day tournament.
