Bernie, Missouri - The Bernie Mules continued their excellent season on Friday night by defeating the Dexter Bearcats by a score of 53 - 48.  It was the meeting of a great rivalry, but also the meeting of two very talented basketball teams.  The win improved the junior varisity Mules to an overall 12-1 season record while moving the Bearcats to a record of 8 - 5. 

With all the fanfare that accompanies a great rival school, the JV Bearcats knew they had their work cut out for them as they entered the  Bernie gymnasium.  Digs of "they are a 'bigger school' school" and "all they have is basketball" all vanish at the start of the game because hope and possibilities of a win rule thinking on both sides.

First quarter action did not dash the hopes of the Bearcat fans as the 'Cats were able to hang within two points of the Mules 8-6.  Blake Horton, Austin Chesser and Chandler Young were all able to drop in a field goal for the 'Cats, while David Trammel rained down a 3-point shot.  Trammel was helped by two points each by Matt Vernon and Caleb Ellenburg.

Blake Horton launched and drained a three-pointer of his own in the 2nd quarter to boost the Bearcats.  Cole Renken and Jacob Pedigo each added fields goals.  Unfortunately for the Bearcats, the 13-points in the first half would not hold water with the impending performance of Bernie's Caleb Ellenburg.

Most Bernie fans knew that Ellenburg's first quarter field goal was only a start to his typical night.  Averaging well over 25-points, Ellenburg has dominated opponents offensively stacking up a high of 40-points against the Bell City Cubs earlier in the season.  And the curtains pulled back on the "Mule Barn" stage and Ellenburg entered posting 12 of Bernie's 14 second quarter points.  Bernie went in at halftime with a 9-point lead with the score 22-13.

"Ellenburg is a great player and we just didn't do a good job finding him on defense," noted JV coach Shawn Guethle.

The Bearcats were unable to slowdown the offensive game of the Mules in the third quarter as Matt Vernon and Ellenburg each dropped a 3-bomber.  Ellenburg also tossed in three additional field goals expanding the lead to 15 points.

The Bearcats were able to mount a scoring drive in the final quarter adding 17-points to their side of the scoreboard.  Austin Chesser combined a 3-point shot with 2 free throws for 5-points.  Bearcats Ethan Flowers (5 Pts), Blake Horton (4 Pts), Cole Renken (2 Pts) and Noah Kronk (2 Pts) all contributed offensively for a total of 17-points. 

Bernie's Devin Trammel, Matt Vernon and Austin Beck joined with Ellenburg to match the Bearcat's offensive performance in the final quarter.  Bernie maintained their lead to win the game by a score of 53-38. 

Though you will find Caleb Ellenburg at the top of the scoring box most nights, no one should be confused by the fact that the Bernie Mules junior varsity team is a team.  As typical to the Brad Botsch teams of the past, the Bernie Mules program is never built on an individual but on the basis that everyone contributes to make championship teams.

The Mules were led in scoring by Caleb Ellingburg with 31-points.  That was followed by Devin Trammel with 9-points, Matt Vernon with 8-points, Austin Beck with 3-points, and Gavin Smith with 2-points. 

The Bearcats' leading scorer was Blake Horton with 9-points and Austin Chesser with 7-points.  Jacob Pedigo and Cole Rankin each had 6-points, followed by Chandler Young (4), Ethan Flowers (4), and Noah Kronk (2).

"Bernie played really well," added Coach Guethle.  "They (Bernie) pressured us out of a lot of what we wanted to do and sped us up a lot."

"We'll keep working and hopefully see them again in the county tournament," said Guethle. 

Typical to all good sporting matches, there is always a winner and always one that doesn't win.  A strong rivalry such as the one that exists between Dexter and Bernie (or Bernie and Dexter, depending on your team) is a healthy exchange of passion, love and excitement for our kids.  But at the end of the game, the court is filled with good young men and the fans are filled with good people from both Bernie and Dexter.

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Bernie, Missouri - As one of the strongest rival games in Southeast Missouri, the Dexter Bearcats traveled to Bernie to take on the Bernie Mules Friday night.  With the expected crowd to be at capacity, many fans arrived early to the local gym that has been affectionately named the "Mule Barn".  Most teams are supported by their fan base, but the Mules vs the Bearcats is simply a contest on an entirely differently level. 

Bernie was the favored team in the contest and were coming off a very disappointing loss to the Caruthersville Tigers this past Tuesday evening.  The Bearcats, on the other hand, were riding a winning high with victories in their past two games against the Woodland Cardinals and the Bloomfield Wildcats. 

The Bearcats came out with a physical aggressive defense against Bernie in the first quarter.  In a see saw battle, the Bearcats were able to gain a slight 4-point lead over the Mules by the end of the first quarter.  D.J. Dowdy was rock solid at the charity stripe for the Cats hitting four of four attempts plus a field goal. 

Bernie continued to battle against the Bearcats high pressure defense and cut the Bearcat lead by one going into half with Dexter leading 27 to 25.  Austin Richardson hit a nice three-point shot in the quarter for the 'Cats while David Baker for the Mules added 8-points and Landon Woods sunk a 3-point shot.

The contest was as expected, very physical.  Throughout the first half, the Bearcats maintained control of the game allowing Bernie to get close, but never allowing them to get ahead.  But everyone knew that the second half would be a true battle by both squads. 

Chase Young immediately began to show his senior leadership as he dropped in a long 3-point shot and 2 field goals in the third quarter.  Dowdy, Brad Potts and Jordan Miller all contributed a field goal gaining back the 4-point lead by the end of the 3rd.

Down on the scoreboard, Coach Brad Botsch ignited a fire in his Bernie Mules team as they increased their intensity and their full court pressure on Dexter.  Dexter became a little scattered for a time period dealing with the press, but was able to regain their composure.

D.J. Dowdy hit a key three point shot in the fourth quarter along with two free throws, while Chase Young maintained his steady shot at the charity stripe.  Chase was 5 for 5 on free throws with a field goal in the fourth to help the Bearcats stay in the game.  But David Baker dropped in 6-points and a three-pointer by B.J. Jennings gave the Mules the lead late in the final period. 

With only nine seconds remaining in the game, freshman Chandler Young was able to break away with the basketball and with the calm of an upper classman, deliver the winning basket for Dexter.  The Bearcats were able to grab the upset victory over the Bernie Mules by a final score of 54 to 53.

"I'm proud of our boys as they overcame the pressure late in the game to get the win," said Coach Rob Nichols after the game.  "This is what high school basketball is and we are happy to come out on top."

"We played well against Bernie, and this is a quality win for us," added Nichols.  "Bernie is a very good team and a favorite in class 2 to make the final four again."

It has been a difficult week for the highly talented Bernie Mules.  Coach Brad Botsch continues to put good basketball teams on the floor year in and year out.

"Tough loss," commented the disappointed Botsch.  "Dexter outplayed and out-competed us for about 3 quarters.  They were the tough team tonight and did the things down the stretch better than we did."

"They (Dexter) did a good job making us shoot the ball from the outside and we didn't convert our opportunities," added Coach Botsch.  "Until we get better guard play and more consistent shooting, we are going to continue to struggle."

"Dexter was the better team tonight," said Botsch.  "and we are going to have to work hard to get better."

Bernie will try to redeem themselves and will take on the Bloomfield Wildcats next Tuesday at home.  Dexter will be at home as well against the Puxico Indians. 

Bloomfield, Missouri - The Bloomfield Wildcats were at home Friday night as they played host to the Malden Greenwaves.  Coming off a dissappointing loss to the Dexter Bearcats earlier in the week, the Wildcats were anxious to get back on their winning track.

Malden jumped out to a first quarter lead over the Wildcats 16 to 15, led by the Greenwaves' Cortez Dobbins with 4 field goals.  But Zach Baker and Brett Ruch were able to keep the game tight with 5 and 4 points respectively. 

But Bloomfield found an little firepower in the 2nd quarter as Zac Goode lit up the night from 3-point land.  Goode dropped 3 bombs in the basket and a free throw for 10 points in the quarter.  Ruch added 5-points and Thomas Sanders contributed 4-points for the Wildcats giving them a halftime lead over Malden of 37 to 33.

Brett Ruch remained hot in the third quarter putting up another 8-points for Bloomfield extending their lead to 7 going into the final quarter of play.  Unfortunately, the Wildcats hit a wall on their scoring, only able to find 6-points compared to the Greenwaves 13-points.  Malden's Malik Perkins dropped 8-points in the 4th and if you do the math, that was just enough to send this game into overtime.

In the overtime period, Perkins remained hot for the Greenwaves with six more points of his total 23-points on the night.  The Greenwaves outscored the Wildcats 9 to 5 in the OT period to win the game by a final score of 64 to 60.

“Malden made a lot more plays down the stretch than we did, so all the credit to Malden," noted Head Coach Jason Karnes.  "They played a very good game."

That loss drops the Wildcat's record to 8-7 for the season and they will face the Bernie Mules.  Both Bernie and Bloomfield found this past week to be tough with Bernie losing to Caruthersville and Dexter and Bloomfield suffering this loss to Malden and an earlier loss to Dexter.

"We have got to learn to be more consistent for a tough stretch of games coming up for us,” Karnes added.

 

Neelyville MO - The Dexter Lady Bearcats traveled to Neelyville on Thursday night in a rematch of the Twin Rivers Christmas tournament finals.  The Lady Tigers came out in a 1-2-2 zone defense which gave the Cats some problems early on. The game was tied at 7 each before baskets by Whitehead, Patterson, Harris, Jarrell and Noe allowed the girls to take a 22-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer

Bernie, Missouri – The Caruthersville Tigers defeated the Bernie Mules with an overwhelming lead of over 20 points.  The Tigers were in front of a home crowd and the state-ranked Mules could not overpower them.  Final score was 76-54.

Bernie Mules coach Brad Botsch said, “We had a real disappointing effort tonight.  I thought we came in with a good game plan and a good idea on how to beat them, but we simply didn’t execute and thus got our tails whipped.”

Caruthersville outscored the Mules in each quarter and were leading 36-27 at the half.  The Tigers just simply dominated Bernie even though the Mules have a well-coached team and disciplined.  They typically don’t give up points.

Bernie Forward Joey Walker had a team high of 18 points along with David Bake who made 14 points on the evening.  The Tigers had five players in double digits with Jamal Johnson leading with 20 points.  The Tigers also utilized him on 3-pointers as he made four of the five during the game. 

“We were noncompetitive much of the night, and we have zero chance to beat a good team when we don’t compete as hard as we can all the time,” stated Botsch.  Back in February of 2012 Caruthersville dominated Bernie as well.  This is a tough team to beat and the Mules are going to have to extra hard for the next  one. 

BERNIE (54) - Troy Kirkpatrick 4, Justin Stanfield 4, J.R. Pregel 6, Bubby Schwent 3, David Baker 14, Joey Walker 18, Brad Freed 5. FG 25, FT 4/7, F 7. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

CARUTHERSVILLE (76) - Jamal Johnson 20, Steve Rodgers 17, Cortez Gooden 10, Coleman Tramble 13, Darrell Monroe 13, Tyler Grissom 3. FG 34, FT 3/8, F 14. (3-pointers: Johnson 4, Rodgers 1. Fouled out: none)

Bernie now has their second loss placing them 12-2 on the season and will host Dexter this Friday, January 11, 2013.  This should be a great game between the two rivalries.