January 11, 2017
Dexter holds off Bloomfield late 57-48 in SCAA Conference tilt
DEXTER, Mo -- With the seeds for the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament soon to be decided, Dexter and Bloomfield had one of their final chances to impress voters Tuesday night when they faced off at the Bearcat Event Center. Cold starts to both halves and foul trouble by the Wildcats proved to be the difference as the Bearcats led start-to-finish for a 57-48 win...
By Brent Shipman ~ Standard Democrat
DEXTER, Mo -- With the seeds for the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament soon to be decided, Dexter and Bloomfield had one of their final chances to impress voters Tuesday night when they faced off at the Bearcat Event Center.
Cold starts to both halves and foul trouble by the Wildcats proved to be the difference as the Bearcats led start-to-finish for a 57-48 win.
"It's just a rivalry game where we did just enough to hang on for the victory," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "I thought we came out and executed our defensive plan real well. We were trying to hold (Bloomfield's) Peyton Bell and Tim Hector down. For the most part we did that."
Offensively Bloomfield hit five-straight shots in the second quarter, but the rest of the night the Bearcat defense kept the Wildcats from finding a rhythm.
Bloomfield hit just 17 of 52 (33 percent) attempts for the game, including a 4 of 21 (19 percent) effort in the first and third quarters combined.
"Give credit to Dexter," Bloomfield coach Brandon Crook said. "They mixed it up defensively and made it hard on us. As far as our effort, it was there. We got down double-digits to start the second half and battled back, cutting it to two. We gave ourselves a chance to come out with a win."
The Wildcats tried all night to get going from 3-point range, but finished just 6 of 23 (26 percent) from behind the arc.
A big reason the Wildcats (8-5) were settling on so many outside shots was the presence of Dexter's Gabe Jackson.
The 6-4 junior hauled in 15 rebounds and blocked six shots while guarding the paint for the Bearcats (8-5) to go with 13 points.
"With Gabe, from a defensive standpoint, we like to keep him around the rim even if we have to scheme it a little bit," Dowdy said. "It keeps us from playing man because he's such a good rebounder and he can alter some shots. If he had six blocks, he probably altered 10 more."
While Jackson thrived the Wildcats were forced to play much of the fourth quarter without two of their starters.
Alex Gibbs picked up his fifth foul with 6:02 to play before Bell, Bloomfield's top scorer, fouled out with 2:42 to play.
Bell's exit hit the Wildcats particularly hard as the junior had just scored four-straight points on free throws, to make it a 46-44 game with 3:26 to play.
After Bell's exit, Dexter went on a 7-2 run to seal the game. Bell finished with a team-high 14 points.
"Those two do a lot for us, both defensively and offensively," Crook said of Gibbs and Bell. "Losing both of them there definitely affect what we do out there a little bit. We had some guys come in and step up and do a good job also."
It was a string of threes early in the fourth that brought the Wildcats back. Dexter led by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter and still maintained a 42-29 lead going into the fourth.
Back-to-back threes from Dalton Phillips sparked a Bloomfield revival before Timmy Hector hit another to make it a 9-0 run and close the Wildcats deficit to four points, at 42-38, with 6:16 to play.
Bell's four points near the three minute mark were part of six-straight points by Bloomfield that closed them within a possession, 46-44, with 3:26 left on the clock.
The two offensive spurts combined to put the Wildcats on a 15-4 run before the Bearcats closed out scoring seven of the final nine points of the game.
"We turned the pressure up and got them to turn the ball over," Crook said. "We needed an x-factor to come in and Dalton Phillips came in and hit a couple big threes for us to get us going. I give a little credit to Dalton for coming in and knocking down some shots and to us getting after it and pressuring them a little bit, getting the to turn it over. That helped us get back into the game."
Dexter shot 20 of 38 (53 percent) from the field for the game, including a 5 of 13 (38 percent) effort from 3-point range. They out-rebounded Bloomfield 27-23, but lost the turnover battle 18-12.
Jason Jarrell's 15 points were a game-high and went along with five rebounds. Ben Sindle scored 12 points, all on 3-pointers with Clay Mullins the fourth Bearcat in double-digits, scoring 11 points and grabbing five rebounds.
For Bloomfield, Bell's 14 points led the way with Timmy Hector and Phillips scoring nine and eight points respectively. Kyle Anderson's eight rebounds were a team-high and Phillips pitched in five.
"We had a lot of pressure on Hector and Bell and we wanted someone else to beat us," Dowdy said. "The other boys did step and hit some shots in the (fourth) quarter, that Phillips kid was beginning to break our back. He started hitting some threes on us, but for the most part we executed what we wanted to do defensively."
Bloomfield 5 18 6 19 -- 48
Dexter 12 18 12 15 -- 57
BLOOMFIELD (48) -- Jacob Hector 2, Dalton Phillips 8, Timmy Hector 9, Kyle Anderson 4, Matt Gibbs 2, Austin Phillips 5, Peyton Bell 14, Alex Gibbs 4. FG 17, FT 8-12, F 24. (3-pointers: Dalton Phillips 2, Bell 2, Timmy Hector 1, Austin Phillips 1. Fouled out: Alex Gibbs, Peyton Bell.)
DEXTER (57) -- Jason Jarrell 15, Alan Pippins 5, Ben Sindle 12, Clay Mullins 11, Ryan Mayo 1, Gabe Jackson 13. FG 20, FT 12-25, F 13. (3-pointers: Sindle 4, Pippins 1. Fouled out: none.)
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