sports@standard-democrat.com
BLOOMFIELD -- A strong fourth quarter from the consolation bracket's top seed ended Bernie's tournament run and gave No. 9 Twin Rivers a 65-53 win Tuesday during the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Chance Wilkerson led the Royals with 22 points and was one of five players who helped Twin Rivers close out the final frame with a 9-0 run to seal a close game throughout.
"Our goal every year is to play late," Twin Rivers coach Dustin Benson said. "Obviously our No. 1 goal is to win first, but it's such a good tournament and it's so wide open that we want to play on the last day. We have a chance to finish 3-1. If you do that in this tournament, you know you've beaten three good teams."
Bernie got big games from Nate Dillinger and Gavin Brown, who combined for 36 of Bernie's 53 points.
Dillinger, who scored 20, cut Twin Rivers' lead to 48-45 just before the third quarter buzzer with two free throws. The Mules kept its deficit to four until Jacob Mitchell hit the second of his two, fourth quarter three's to give Twin Rivers a 56-49 lead.
Two free throws by Bernie's Alex Guzman briefly made it a five-point game, but one of two free throws from Wilkerson spurred a 9-2 run by the Royals that closed out the final 3:48.
"Jacob and Chance hit their shots today," Benson said. "That's a big key in order for us to have some success down the line. Especially against teams like Bernie that's going to pack it in on us."
Dillinger scored 11 points in the second quarter and at one point scored six-straight for the Mules giving them a 26-21 lead with 2:01 left to play in the first half.
"Early on we struggled to guard Dillinger," Benson said. "He did a good job of going off early. He's a good player."
Three 3-pointers from Twin Rivers aided an 11-2 run to end the second quarter, however, as the Royals entered the second half with a 32-28 lead.
"We did some good things throughout this game and we're still improving steadily," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "But it's still not enough to beat a quality team like Twin Rivers. They're a pretty seasoned group."
Twin Rivers outscored Bernie 33-25 in the second half.
"They hit some big shots, you have to give them credit," Botsch said. "They hit a lot of outside shots down the stretch and just kind of kept breaking our back every time we'd fight back. You have to give them a lot of credit for that."
Through three games, Wilkerson has been Twin Rivers' leading scorer. He's among the top scorers of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament totaling 58 points so far.
"Chance is the hardest working kid on our team for sure," Benson said. "He's one of the hardest working in the area so everything he's got he's earned. He's really come into his own. He's really had a good tournament."
Twin Rivers will play for a consolation championship on Wednesday against No. 10 East Prairie at 4 p.m. The Royals lost the fifth-place game last seaon and won fifth-place two year's ago.
Bernie 12 16 17 8 -- 53
Twin Rivers 12 20 16 17 -- 65
BERNIE (53) -- Alex Guzman 4, Nate Dillinger 20, Alex Whitehead 10, Gavin Brown 16, Dalton Hobgood 3. FG 19 FT 12-17 F 10. (3-pointers: Whitehead 2, Hobgood 1. Fouled out: none.)
TWIN RIVERS (65) -- Hayden Thomas 6, Chance Wilkerson 22, Andrew Mittelstadt 2, Josh Suiter 11, Mikey Suiter 9, Logan Garrette 6, Jacob Mitchell 9. FG 26 FT 3-6 F 17. (3-pointers: Thomas 2, Wilkerson 3, Mitchell 3. Fouled out: none.)