With the clock ticking down seconds before halftime of the Richland at Dexter varsity boys basketball contest on Monday at the Bearcat Event Center, the Rebels were desperately trying to hang with the hosts, who had methodically out some space between themselves and their Stoddard County rival and led 28-20.
Dexter junior guard John Sepulvado dribbled on the perimeter as the clock inched towards :00 before making his move to the basket. Shockingly, and Sepulvado probably felt that way, as well, he had a clear path to the rim and scored easily for a 30-20 advantage at intermission, and that single possession encapsulated the game, as the Bearcats outcompeted, outworked, and outplayed the Rebels in a 66-42 victory in the opening round of the Stoddard County Activities Tournament.
“We were extremely weak with the ball (offensively),” Richland coach Matt Cline said following the loss. “We turned the ball over. We weren’t really running any kind of offense.
“We didn’t get back (on defense) and stop the ball.”
Besides that…
The Rebels (9-6) are ranked No. 8 in Class 1 but appeared to have little interest in battling the Bearcats (8-9), who had lost three of their past four contests against Richland.
“I think it was as bad as I have seen all year,” Cline said of his team’s competitiveness. “It was probably as bad as I’ve seen in my four years.”
The halftime break didn’t do a thing to resolve the Rebels’ woes. In fact, they just got worse in the third quarter.
Dexter dominated at both ends of the floor with energy and effort and outscored Richland 26-9.
“We came into this game and tried to triangle-and-two them,” Dexter coach Chad Allen said following the win.
Stop.
This game had nothing to do with strategy or schematics. One team showed up ready to play and the other didn’t, which was as shocking of a Matt Cline-coached team as one could imagine.
“We definitely talked about (playing with energy),” Allen said. “The last time that we played (a 52-50 Rebel win in Essex), they basically outworked us.”
The second half turned into a glorified layup line for Dexter, as Sepulvado continually drove and finished uncontested while Bearcat junior forward Devin Turnbo drove and finished and was contested, but the Rebel defenders continually fouled him.
Turnbo totaled 11 points and hit all five of his free throws.
“We were going to let (Dexter drivers) catch the ball outside the lane,” Cline said of wanting the Bearcat athletes to shoot jump shots, not layups, “but you still have to challenge the shot when they go up with it.”
Sepulvado led his team with 20 points while Bearcat senior Elijah Ibrahim, who moved in from Poplar Bluff this season, scored a career-high 18 points.
“I thought Elijah did a great job,” Allen said. “It was probably his best game of the year for us.”
Dexter got eight points from junior guard Carter Stone and seven from sophomore point guard Will Guethle.
Richland was led by senior forward Tucker Hughes with 12 points while senior guard Hunter Sanders (nine), senior forward Gary Tilley (six), and senior forward Eric Williams (six) also contributed.
Dexter advances to play Class 2 No. 3-ranked and SCAA top seed Puxico (15-1) at 6 p.m.on Thursday in a semifinal.
The Rebels will play Advance (4-12) in a consolation semifinal at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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