HAYTI, Mo. -- Two overtimes were necessary Thursday night to determine if the Bernie Mules or Holcomb Hornets would reach the Class 2, District 1, boys basketball championship.
The Mules maintained a double-digit lead twice in the 40-minute classic, while the Hornets' largest lead was six points in the fourth head-to-head meeting between the two squads.
Holcomb obtained defensive stops at the end of the fourth quarter and first overtime before outscoring Bernie 11-5 in the second overtime on its way to a 55-49 victory.
"Two good teams that just had to grind one out tonight," Holcomb coach Seth McBroom said, when asked on his overall thoughts of the game. "If that's not the definition of a grinding out a game I don't know what is. We were terrible in the first half and weren't focused. In the second half, we made adjustments and had guys step up. It was just a great overall team effort."
The Hornets took the lead for good at the start of the second overtime when its 6'7 center Jamie Massey recorded an old-fashioned 3-point-play on the tipoff. Massey tipped the ball to teammate Michael Glover who fed the ball back to Massey as he sprinted toward the rim. Massey was fouled as he hit a field goal near the basket and then converted a free throw to give the Hornets a 47-44 lead.
"Jamie made a nice read on who to tip it to," McBroom said of the crucial offensive play. "There are not very many teams as smart as Bernie and they are so smart they will steal the tip from you. Jamie got it to Michael and ran a give-and-go off the tip. He took a couple of bounces and got to the rim. It was a great play by him and Michael."
The Hornets stretched its lead to 51-46 at the 1:26 mark of the second overtime. Bernie's Matt Vernon came off the bench to knock down a 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining and cut the deficit back to one possession at 51-49, but Holcomb hit four free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
"Hats off to Holcomb and congratulations to them," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "They kept fighting. I felt like they maintained their composure a little bit better. I think their experience and the job Seth did with them this year was enough to get the 'W' tonight. I thought we had some solid opportunities to win the game whether it be in regulation or overtime and missed some easy chances at the basket. They didn't fall for us, but credit Holcomb for challenging those shots and converting their free throws at the end."
Troy Kirkpatrick set the tone early for the Mules, draining four of his seven 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Bernie led the contest 17-6 after the first period and held Holcomb to just one field the final four minutes of the quarter.
"That kid is a great shooter and can haunt your nightmares and he did in the first half," McBroom said of Kirkpatrick, who calculated a team-high 21 points for the Mules. "We had to switch our defense to combat that. We knew we didn't want him to get hot early. We were supposed to have some focus and know where he was at, but he just kept getting away from us. He made shots."
Holcomb went on a 9-0 run over the first two minutes of the second period to trim Bernie's lead to 17-15. Bernie responded by outscoring Holcomb 10-4 the final six minutes of the first half and entered halftime with a 27-19 lead.
Bernie took its largest lead of the second half 15 seconds into third quarter at 30-19 when Kirkpatrick drained his final trey of the game.
The Mules' lead evaporated the remainder of the third quarter as it struggled to score against the Hornets' defense. Massey's third field goal of the second half trimmed Bernie's lead to 33-31 with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter.
"We had to lock down," McBroom said of his team's second-half defense. "We have to do things by defense and rebounding. That's been our motto all year. We found a way to get stops, but their defense is so good it was making us make bad decisions. We stayed calm and finally got touches inside. We had a lot of guys play well and just do whatever they needed to do to win the game."
Bernie never trailed in the fourth quarter. The Mules led 37-31 at the 6:32 mark of the fourth period, 39-34 at the 4:45 mark and 41-36 at the 3:20 mark. Bernie did not score again in regulation after a field goal by Sam Turner with 3:20 left.
"One of our weaknesses as a team is we are not real well-rounded individually," Botsch said. "We have some guys that are really good defensively and some guys that execute certain roles well, but they are not yet complete players. I thought they exploited some of our weaknesses and we weren't able to get quality shots. Then when we did we didn't finish them."
A 3-pointer by the Hornets' Patrick Skelton tied the contest at 41 with 1:43 left in the fourth period. Bernie maintained possession of the ball following the trey until Kirkpatrick launched a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining that did not fall.
"They are good with the ball and knew they could hold it out there," McBroom said. "It was great coaching on his part to try to get a good shot late. Our kids just locked down and made a stop."
Both teams then turned the ball over once in the final 10 seconds of regulation. Holcomb's Skelton missed a desperation 3-pointer just inside half-court at the end of regulation, which sent the game to the first overtime tied at 41.
Holcomb led 44-41 in the first overtime following an old fashioned 3-point-play by Massey at the 1:50 mark. Turner converted a 3-point-play for Bernie with 1:12 remaining to tie the contest at 44.
Bernie regained possession of the ball in the final minute and called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. Following the timeout Turner missed a 2-point field just to the right of the free-throw line at the buzzer, which sent the contest to a second overtime tied at 44.
Massey led Holcomb with 29 points and Aaron Reeves finished second in scoring with nine.
David Baker scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for Bernie.
Bernie concludes its season with a record of 17-11. It is the first time Bernie has not won its Class 2 district since the 2007-2008 season.
"We've had a lot of adversity for a variety of reasons," Botsch said. "I thought these kids really persevered well. We ended up with five juniors and seniors and the rest are just young kids out there. I thought those kids really bought in and did everything they could. We weren't strong enough to get the job done tonight, but it doesn't take away from the heart these kids have. I thought they really exhibited some maturity for the way they competed down the stretch and the junior varsity season they had as well. We are pretty optimistic about our future even though this one stinks. We are going to be fine for seasons to come."
Holcomb improves its record to 23-5 with the victory. According to McBroom, the 23-win total is the most wins ever by a Holcomb varsity boys basketball program. The Hornets finished 22-5 in the 1982-1983 season.
"We never really had that as a goal, but it's nice to achieve," McBroom said. "It's something kids can look back on and former alumni can be proud of. It's something good for the school and community without a doubt."
No. 2 seeded Holcomb will play fourth-seeded Hayti Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Hayti for the Class 2, District 1, championship.
Holcomb defeated Hayti 43-36 on Dec. 15 and 50-44 on Dec. 28.
"We knew this was going to be a tough district," McBroom said. "They are a good, athletic team that is very scary."