December 29, 2015
No. 8 Dexter upsets top-seeded Bloomfield in Christmas Tournament quarterfinals
Eighth-seeded Dexter turned the bracket on its head with a 43-35 win over No. 1 Bloomfield on Monday in front of a packed house at Bloomfield High School.
By Chris Pobst -- Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
BLOOMFIELD -- For the first time in 50 years the host team of the 59th annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament entered as the top seed.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that expectation was shattered at the hands of a familiar county rival.
Eighth-seeded Dexter turned the bracket on its head with a 43-35 win over No. 1 Bloomfield on Monday in front of a packed house at Bloomfield High School. It marked the first upset on a day where three of the tournament's higher seeds in the championship round had its title bid ended.
It also ended Bloomfield's undefeated season.
"It means a lot," Dexter junior Jason Jarrell said. "All our hard work, this is what we worked for. Coach always talks to us about toughness and we showed it tonight."
That toughness was best displayed in the final quarter when free throws down the stretch iced a low-scoring, physical game. There were six ties and nine lead changes throughout a game that was never separated by more than 10 points.
"It's a big win for our players," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "Our seniors don't have a ton of big wins in their career."
Dexter (3-5) entered the final frame down 29-27. The lead changed hands five times with the latest coming with one minute left in the game. Jarrell continued a solid night at the free throw line from Dexter nailing two to give his team a 36-35 lead.
Following Jarrell's game-winners, the Bearcats immediately cranked up the pressure on Bloomfield's inbound pass and forced a steal. Jacob Pedigo grabbed the errant pass and pulled up for a 12-foot jumper that found the bottom of the net for a major 5-point swing.
Bloomfield (7-1) was held to just one field goal and went 4 for 8 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
"We didn't handle the big situations like we needed to," Bloomfield coach Jason Karnes said. "A lot of times when you have a team that hasn't went through those types of situations you don't know how they will handle them. We didn't do enough."
Two long 3-point attempts from the Wildcats followed Pedigo's takeaway and basket. They both missed wildly. Ethan Flowers, who led Dexter with 13 points, made it 40-35 with 28 seconds remaining.
Two more free throws from Jarrell and 1 of 2 from Gabe Jackson ended a quarter where Dexter finished 8 of 9 from the charity stripe.
"I thought free throws were the difference," Dowdy said.
Bloomfield led for most of the first half taking advantage of Dexter's offensive struggles. The Bearcats missed its first five shots while Bloomfield enjoyed a 10-0 run to start the frame.
"We got off to a really good start," Karnes said. "I thought defensively we did what we needed to do."
Pedigo gave Dexter its first field goal with 51 seconds to spare in the opening quarter as Bloomfield took a 10-4 lead into the second quarter.
Dexter went on to outscore Bloomfield 14-8 in the second and took its first lead of the night after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Flowers made it 18-17. The score was set at 18-all at the half.
"It was a defensive struggle," Dowdy said. "We couldn't score and our offense was a nonfactor early on."
Flowers started the third quarter with a triple to give Dexter its largest lead up to that point. Three lead changes and three ties followed as a 3-pointer by Tyler Battles, who finished with nine points, gave Bloomfield a 29-27 lead going into the final quarter.
It was a disappointing end for the hometown favorite who entered this year's version of their holiday classic with its highest expectations of a deep tournament run in a very long time.
"We didn't put a lot of emphasis on our seeding," said Karnes. "I'm not sure we put as much on it as others did. But, we have to pick up the pieces, compete and execute to end things on a positive."
Though the seedings were against Dexter's favors, the first championship quarterfinal of the night didn't have the feel of a 1 v. 8 matchup. The Stoddard County schools have been familiar with each other throughout the years, sometimes meeting up to three times a season. Both are part of the Stoddard County Athletic Association Conference and meet in the regular season as well.
"The kids know each other real well and we went into it with a comfortable feeling," Dowdy said. "It was a big win, but we don't feel like we're done yet."
Dexter will play fifth-seeded Malden on Tuesday during the championship semifinals at 7 p.m.
Bloomfield drops to the fifth-place bracket where they will take on No. 4 Doniphan at 4 p.m.
Bloomfield 10 8 11 6 -- 35
Dexter 4 14 9 16 -- 43
BLOOMFIELD (35) -- Tim Hector 11, Peyton Bell 3, Nathan Newell 5, Tyler Battles 9, Noah Vandiver 6, Alex Gibbs 1. FG 11 FT 10-19 F 16. (3-pointers: Hector 3, Battles 2. Fouled out: none.)
DEXTER (43) -- Jason Jarrell 12, Jacob Pedigo 9, Ethan Flowers 13, Gabe Jackson 9. FG 16 FT 9-10 F 19. (3-pointers: Flowers 2. Fouled out: none.)
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