Dexter back in Bloomfield title game

BLOOMFIELD - Familiar faces will meet up for the championship game of the 47th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Tuesday.

As expected, top-seeded Dexter made it to the finals with a workmanlike 72-51 win against No. 4 Doniphan on Monday.

Third-seeded Twin Rivers pulled off a mild upset by defeating No. 2 East Carter County 74-64.

Dexter will be shooting for their sixth straight Bloomfield title when they meet the Royals for the second year in a row for the championship tonight at 8:30 p.m.

The Bearcats have had the Royals' number for several years now, including last year's 80-37 washout in the championship game.

The Bearcats also beat Twin Rivers 74-66 earlier this season at Dexter High School.

Dexter winning at Bloomfield may be getting old hat for some area fans, but head coach Eric Sitze says each year is special.

"You can't help but when you walk in the gym and see all the people and the excitement to get those butterflies and get those nerves going," said Sitze, who has led the Bearcats to the last two titles. "It hasn't lost anything -- if nothing it's gotten worse."

In other games Monday night, No. 7 Portageville eliminated No. 6 Bloomfield 61-60; No. 12 South Pemiscot eliminated No. 8 Hayti 65-62; No. 5 Kennett ousted No. 16 Richland 70-41; and No. 10 Van Buren eliminated No. 11 East Prairie 69-55.

Doniphan will play East Carter in the third place game at 7 p.m. Portageville will meet South Pemiscot in the fifth place game at 5:30. And Kennett will play Van Buren for the consolation title at 4 p.m.

From start to finish, the Bearcats controlled every aspect of the game.

The Bearcats (6-3) opened up an 18-12 first quarter lead and were never threatened after that.

Dexter led 41-28 at the half and 56-41 heading into the fourth quarter. The final margin of 21 points was the largest lead of the game.

Dexter established an inside presence in the early going as 6-foot-6 center Derek Demaree scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter, taking it right at Doniphan's 6-7 sophomore Matt Rogers.

"He had some good moves in there and he took it strong," said Sitze of Demaree. "We talked about taking it at the shot blocker and not shooting any weak shots in there and letting him have the advantage. He did a good job of that early."

Demaree had some help though. Josh Ford, a 6-6 senior, had his best game of the year as he scored 15 points.

Levi Rawson came off the bench to score nine points.

Derek Roberts added 10 points.

"It's like a machine -- they just keep bringing people off the bench," said Doniphan head coach Shawn Gibbs. "We're hoping we'll get to that point soon. Not that we're trying to be exactly like them, but we have similar philosophies in how we play."

The Bearcats did get several minutes out of leading scorer Josh Miller, but the senior was out of sync after sitting out two days with a sprained ankle.

He finished with six points.

"He hasn't done anything in two or three days," said Sitze. "He played quite a few minutes tonight so I hope he didn't wear his ankle out much. He did look a little bit out of shape tonight."

The spindly Rogers thrilled the crowd with a few impressive displays of athleticism, from blocked shots to slam dunks.

He finished with a team-high 13 points. Devin Simms chipped in with 11 points.

"He's going to be a really good player," said Sitze. "When he gets a little more coordination and get some weight on him, he's going to be a tough player."

Once Dexter established its lead in the second half, they went into a delay game for nearly the entire fourth quarter.

"I thought we played fairly even in the third quarter, then we had to foul and gamble at the end and it kind of slipped away," said Gibbs.

Doniphan never got closer than 10 in the second half.

Dexter has now won 40 straight games at Bloomfield High School.

In a see-saw game, Twin Rivers exploded for 25 points in the fourth quarter to reach the championship game for the second year in a row.

The Royals (8-2) haven't won the tournament since 1994.

Both teams combined for 15 3-pointers in the game, but it was Twin Rivers' height advantage that proved to be the difference.

Jason Baucom, a 6-5 senior, had a game-high 20 points.

The Royals also got a boost out of 6-1 senior Brandon Lowe, who had 19 points, including five 3-pointers.

Sophomore guard Tyler Lance added 15 points.

Twin Rivers made 24-of-27 from the free throw line.

East Carter (7-1) got 29 points out of all-state guard David Reynolds. Tyler Stahl added 15 points and Trevor Douglas had 12.

Portageville stayed alive for the final day by holding off the host school.

The Bulldogs led 59-54 with less than a minute left and appeared to have the game wrapped.

But poor free throw shooting allowed Bloomfield a chance to win it at the buzzer.

Leading 61-60, Bulldog junior Willie Hassell missed two free throws with nine seconds remaining.

Bloomfield was able to get the ball to Grant Jones but his shot was blocked out of bounds with one second remaining.

The Wildcats inbounded the ball to Jordan Sandage in the corner but his potential game-winning 3-pointer was well off the mark.

"We were very, very fortunate to win tonight," said Portageville head coach Jim Bidewell. "I was thinking they were going to come away with a win. (Antonio) Scott missed a little bank shot with nobody around him, Hassell missed a chip shot and missed the free throws. I've been in this before, usually you lose those kind of games."

Bloomfield also got back-to-back 3-pointers out of Tim Perry in the final minute.

Perry finished with a team-high 18 points. Jones added 16 points.

Hassell led the Bulldogs with 21 points. Jimmy Larry added 11 points. Jordan Penn and Scott each had 10 points.

Portageville (5-3) trailed after every quarter. Bloomfield came out hot in the first quarter, leading 16-8. They held a 29-27 lead at the half, and a 44-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs were just 12-of-21 from the free throw line.

East Prairie's wish to play all four nights went down the tubes as they were eliminated by Van Buren.

Van Buren controlled things from the outset as they led 16-10 after one quarter and 34-21 at the half.

Some hot shooting from beyond the arc kept East Prairie in the game in the second half but they couldn't make a dent.

The Eagles buried 10 3-pointers, but only made nine from inside the arc.

Jordan Sanders led the way with seven 3-pointers to account for all of his 21 points.

Aaron Harland had 12 points.

Van Buren was led by Tyler Cleaver's 19 points. Nick Dorris added 11 points.

Fifth-seeded Kennett simply out-manned No. 16 Richland as they cruised to the victory.

The Indians led 17-9 after one quarter and 37-23 at the half. Kennett extended the lead to 56-33 entering the fourth quarter.

Kennett was led by Dontavis Jones' 23 points. Cody Robinson had 11 points, Tyrone Duckworth and Danny Ragsdale each had 10 points.

Richland was led by Corey Moore's 14 points.

South Pemiscot's Cinderella story continued as they knocked off No. 8 Hayti.

The Bulldogs, seeded 12th, beat fifth-seeded Kennett in the first round to make it to the winner's bracket.

They stayed alive on Monday with a big fourth quarter.

Trailing 43-42 entering the final frame, the Bulldogs buried four 3-pointers in the fourth to pull out the win.

Alonzo Jones had two of them to finish with 23 points.

Matt Boone had the other two, scoring all eight of his points in the fourth quarter.

Percy Brock scored 17 points and Anthony Patton had 13.

Hayti was led by Dallas Winda's 15 points. Rickey Jackson added 14 points.