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Dexter upsets rival Bernie 66-54
BERNIE -- After winning only two of their first 11 games, this past week has been a breath of fresh air for the Dexter Bearcats and their fans.
Not only have the Bearcats secured back-to-back wins, but both have came at the expense of Stoddard County Activity Association opponents less than two weeks before the SCAA Conference Tournament.
Their latest win came on Friday when Dexter played the role of spoiler at rival Bernie's homecoming with a 66-54 come-from-behind win.
"We got us a win against Bloomfield earlier in the week and we tried to keep that energy rolling," Bearcats' head coach Josh Dowdy said. "We've been challenging the kids all week to make a statement. We haven't had a whole lot of wins, but we knew we were correcting some things along the way. We didn't know it was going to come tonight. We thought it might even be next year to be honest, but it was sweet."
With neither team separating themselves by more than seven points in the contest, things remained knotted up at 45-45 with four minutes to play.
A 3-pointer by Ethan Flowers at the 3:40 mark proved to be the late tipping point that ignited a 9-3 Dexter run to push ahead 54-48 with two minutes to play.
A missed shot on the Mules' next possession was followed by a Dexter rebound, allowing them to go into clock killing mode.
Bernie continued to send Dexter to the line and remained within six points with 1:05 to play.
Coming away empty-handed on three of their final four possessions, however, the Mules could only watch as Dexter pulled away by hitting 9 of 10 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Dexter's last win over the neighboring Mules came in 2013 with Bernie taking last year's meeting 50-36. While it might just look like another regular season game to casual observers, Dexter's annual matchup with Bernie is one both towns have circled on their schedule.
"I'm just so proud of these kids," Dowdy said. "(Senior) Noah Kronk said early in the season when I first took over, coach, 'I've played basketball for a long time and I've never beaten Bernie. That's what I want'. It looked like he fought for it tonight. Shutting (Caleb) Ellenberg down, that was awesome."
As Dowdy alluded to, shutting down Ellenberg was the focus of his team's game plan. Bernie's senior leader was held to seven points on the night.
"We had an idea they would probably play a box and one on Caleb since they had some success on (Bloomfield's) Noah Vandiver doing that," Bernie head coach Brad Botsch said. "We worked against it, but we didn't practice well yesterday and didn't have any urgency. I think it was a direct correlation in carrying over to tonight's game."
Before Dexter's late surge it was the Mules who looked to have the edge going into the fourth quarter. They held a seven-point lead, 39-32, with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter.
Bernie's lead dwindled to a single possession early in the fourth quarter, 42-39, as Dexter was in the midst of a 13-2 run. Jacob Pedigo's layup to cap the run gave the Bearcats a 45-42 lead with 5:48 to play only to see a Login Wood 3-pointer knot things back up for Bernie.
"I told the kids after the game that once we got that lead I probably should have pulled it out," Botsch said. "I started to think about pulling them out of their diamond and one, but I didn't because I thought that we would be able to extend it a little bit more. But our defense was pretty porous tonight. As well they were finishing and shooting free throws tonight, going back on that I might have changed my mind about pulling it out, even in the third quarter."
One big plus the Bearcats have enjoyed of late and certainly on Friday night has been the addition of junior Ethan Flowers to the lineup. Recently returned from injury, Flowers scored 19 points in Dexter's win over Bloomfield and put up a game-high 22 points against Bernie.
Flowers started off hot with eight points in the first quarter before going scoreless in the second and third quarters. He finished the night with a 14 points fourth quarter that included a pair of 3-pointers and a 8 of 8 effort at the free throw line.
In all, Flowers collected four of the Bearcats' seven 3-pointers.
"Ethan had a tremendous game," Dowdy said. "He had a lull there and I really challenged him on the sideline. I haven't challenged him all year and I know it was tough for him to take, but he came back in there and really responded.
"I know we're going to be a better team because of it moving forward."
Flower's wasn't the only hero at the free throw line as the bearcats shot 21 of 24 (87.5 percent) as a team from the foul line, including a 18 of 20 (90 percent) performance in the fourth quarter.
A total of four Bearcats posted doubles digit scoring totals with Pedigo adding 15 points to his team's cause. Austin Chesser and Jason Jarrell scored 13 and 10 points respectively.
For Bernie, Brandon Sparks 15 points were a team-high and included three of the Mules' nine 3-pointers. Matt Vernon had 10 points and Devin Trammell finished with nine points.
| Bernie | 15 | 16 | 8 | 15 | -- | 54 |
| Dexter | 19 | 11 | 6 | 30 | -- | 66 |
BERNIE (54) -- Blake Gilmore 4, Matt Vernon 10, Login Wood 3, Brandon Sparks 15, Caleb Ellenberg 7, Alex Whitehead 3, Devin Trammell 9, Gavin Smith 3. FG 21, FT 3-5, F 20. (3-pointers: Vernon 2, Wood 1, Sparks 3, Whitehead 1, Trammell 2. Fouled out: Sparks, Ellenberg.)
DEXTER (66) -- Jason Jarrell 10, Jacob Pedigo 15, Austin Chesser 13, Ethan Flowers 22, Noah Kronk 6. FG 19, FT 21-24, F 11. (3-pointers: Chesser 3, Flowers 4. Fouled out: none.)