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Bulldogs fall to Hayti
Richland advances while Dexter and East Prairie are eliminated
BLOOMFIELD -- The Portageville Bulldogs fell to the No. 1 seed Hayti Indians 69-50 Thursday evening in the second round of the the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Hayti's size and athleticism proved to be too much for Portageville to handle as they hit the ground running from the opening tip off and never looked back.
"They were bigger, faster, and stronger," said Portageville head coach Jim Bidewell.
"When teams are like that, you've got to come out prepared to play the game of your life and we weren't ready to do that.
"They were more aggressive and I thought they played a smarter game than we did."
The Indians jumped out quick, taking a 20-2 lead with only 2:01 left to play in the first quarter before allowing the Bulldogs to sink their second field goal of the game. At the source of this early run was Hayti's ability to control the boards, which often limited Portageville to one shot each possession.
Along with snagging rebounds, the quickness of Indian defenders presented problems for the Bulldogs as turnovers often became fast break points for Hayti.
"We wanted to limit them to one shot and one shot only," said Hayti head coach Philip Taylor. "And once we did that we wanted to run every chance we could get. Run transition and try to get easy lay ups.
"We did a great job of cutting off their options and I'm really proud of our guys today. They played hard and deserve it."
After settling in, the Bulldogs did manage to cut the lead to down to 14 points heading into the second quarter at 24-10. However, they could only put a small dent in the Indians lead as they went into the locker room down 35-23 at the half.
This would be as close as Portageville could get, trading baskets with Hayti for the rest of the game before Indians opened the lead back up to 69-50 in the closing seconds.
"We never could really get over the hump," said Bidewell. "They forced us not to do that and they did a real good job rebounding and testing our shots.
"We would have had to play a real good game to beat them today. But we know where we are and how far we've got to go so we'll see what happens."
The Bulldogs were lead by Dometric Trotter with 11 points and one 3-pointer while Fred Treadwell chipped in with eight points.
Hayti had four players in the double digits with Gooden Jamestic leading all scorers with 20 points. William Cooper, a 6-6 senior, was a force inside with 15 points and 5 blocks while George Hamilton got in on the action with 12 points and one 3-pointer. Denzel Presberry added 10 points respectively.
"We had a little bit of a size advantage with Cooper being in there, as big as he is," said Taylor. "Hayti has not been in the final four in this tournament for years so any time you can beat a team like Portageville to get there it is a big win. Bidewell is always gonna have his kids ready to play but hopefully we can continue to play hard and move on."
Portageville (5-3) will try to bounce tonight against the Bloomfield Wildcats at 4 p.m. while Hayti will compete against the Puxico Indians at 7 p.m. in the semifinals.
The 12th-seeded Puxico Indians continued their Cinderella run in the tournament by beating No. 4 seed Bloomfield 69-53 to move into the semifinals.
The Wildcats put together a rally in the fourth quarter, but Puxico was able to hold off the host to get the win.
Puxico was led by Kerry McClure's 16 points while J Hon added 15, David Crain 4.
Kyle Williamson led Bloomfield with 17 while Leighton Hensley and Corey Smith added 13 and 10 respectively.
The Doniphan Dons jumped out to a 28-8 lead in the first quarter and rolled past South Pemiscot into the semifinals 79-40
Doniphan was led in scoring by Chandler Wilson's 22 points. Charles Wilson scored 21 while Tyler Collins and Greg Davis finished with 17 and 12 respectively.
South Pemiscot was led by Kaleb Canoy who ended with 11.
The No. 7 seeded Malden Green Wave upset second-seeded Bernie 73-70 in the nightcap. Malden, last year's champion, got 20 points from Chad Hudson and 14 from Leonard Burton.
Bernie was led by Jake Owens' 24 while Silas Dill had 16 and Jake Smith 11.
For the first time since 1992, the Dexter Bearcats lost their first two games of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. Van Buren, the No. 13 seed, jumped out to a 21-10 first quarter lead and held off the Bearcats for a 68-56 win in the consolation quarterfinals.
Van Buren was led in scoring by Jack Heiberg's 18. Brandon Tucker and Tyler Freeze each finished with 12 points apiece.
Dexter was led by Kevin Hart's 14. Drew Kelley and David Hessling each put in 11 points apiece.
The No. 14 seed East Prairie Eagles had upset on their mind when they tied the game at 52 early in the fourth quarter of a consolation quarterfinal. However, a quick 12-2 run from the No. 6 seed Royals put the game away.
Twin Rivers was led in scoring by Kyle Oberkramer who had 21 points. Kenny Johnson and Dylan Stockton scored 16 and 12 points respectively.
Tony Jones led East Prairie with 21 points. M.C. Williams scored 15, all on 3-
pointers.
The Kennett Indians cruised into the consolation semifinals by pounding Greenville 84-35.
Kennett was led by Jarvis Finley's 20 points while Randrick Caruthers and Tevin Hampton each had 15.
Corey Keel led Greenville with 10.
The Richland Rebels rebounded from a tough opening round loss to Portageville by breezing past East Carter County 64-28. Richland was led by Mikey Latham who had a game-high 18 points. Nick Harris and Drew Thornton added 13 and 10 respectively.
Derek Miller led East Carter with 12.