Big wins are big story in early going at Bloomfield Christmas Tournament

BLOOMFIELD — Big wins were the order of the day on Thursday in the first four games of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

All four early games were decided by double digits, with only the Bernie-Portageville and Kennett-East Carter games being decided by less than 20 points.

The fifth-seeded Kennett Indians used an opportunistic defense to pull away from the 12th-seeded East Carter Redbirds 60-44 on Thursday in the opening round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

In other early action Thursday, it was Bernie 58, Portageville 47; Puxico 66, Gideon 32; and Richland 66, Twin Rivers 31.

East Carter overcame a nine-point deficit after the first quarter to pull within two points at the half, but Kennett opened up a double-digit lead in the third quarter and slammed the door shut on the Redbirds in the final frame.

“We knew they were going to play us tough,” said Kennett coach Seth McBroom. “That’s a well-coached team, a good team, and we knew they were going to be ready.”

Kennett improved its record to 4-5 on the season, while East Carter fell to .500 at 5-5.

“We gave them too many easy layups,” said East Carter coach Kurt Penn. “We have to be stronger, take care of the ball, and get high-quality looks; until we fix that, we’re going to find ourselves in the same struggles.”

Kennett’s leading scorer was Dyson Watson with a game-high 19 points.

East Carter was led by Chayse Bradshaw with 15 points.

The first quarter was evenly matched for most of the period, with Kennett taking two-point leads only to see them matched on the other end of the court by East Carter.

In the last two minutes of the first, however, a series of Redbirds turnovers led to easy fast-break points by the Indians, who compounded those shots with free throws to build a 24-15 lead at the end of the period.

East Carter returned the favor in the second quarter, converting Kennett’s missed shots and turnovers into a 13-6 scoring advantage that closed the score at halftime to 30-28 in favor of the Indians.

Kennett came on strong in the second half, using its defense to generate steals and turnovers that led to easy layups on offense, eventually building a 10-point lead, 44-34, with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.

“We came out and changed a few things on defense,” McBroom said. “It found us something that worked, and then we went on a little run, a pretty good third quarter.”

Kennett’s Dyson Watson hit a 3-pointer and forced a turnover that extended their lead to 49-34 with a minute left, and the third ended with the Indians holding that same 15-point lead.

The Indians opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to force an East Carter timeout at 5:41 remaining. The Redbirds ended up outscoring the Redbirds 11-10 in the final period.

“We’ve been finding ourselves in spells of where we score a couple points per quarter,” Penn said. “I don’t know if that’s because we’re young or we’re not getting enough looks, but I think it all comes back to turning the ball over.”

The Indians will face the fourth-seeded Bernie Mules at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the second round, while the Redbirds will take on the Portageville Bulldogs at 10 a.m. on Friday in the consolation bracket.

PUXICO 66, GIDEON 32

The Puxico Indians, the No. 1 seed in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, lived up to their ranking in the tourney’s opening game with a thrashing of the 16th-seeded Gideon Bulldogs.

The Indians (6-1) never trailed in the game, holding a 37-19 advantage at halftime and dominating the Bulldogs (2-7) at both ends of the court in the second half.

Puxico’s leading scorer was Landon Burchard with a game-high 25 points.

Gideon was led by Drake Montgomery, who scored 12 points.

Puxico moves on to face Richland on Friday at 4 p.m. in the second round, while Gideon will play Twin Rivers in the consolation bracket at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

RICHLAND 66, TWIN RIVERS 31

The eighth-seeded Richland Rebels ran past the ninth-seeded Twin Rivers Royals in the opening round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Richland (6-2) played a stifling full-court defense that gave the Royals (6-4) problems scoring in the first half, and the Rebels were able to extend their 32-22 halftime lead throughout the second half to secure their victory.

Richland’s leading scorers Gary Tilley with a game-high 28 points, with teammate Hunter Sanders contributing 22 points.

Twin Rivers’ top scorer was Luke Hester with 10 points.

BERNIE 58, PORTAGEVILLE 47

The fourth-seeded Bernie Mules survived a determined 13th-seeded Portageville Bulldogs team in the opening round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Bernie (4-2) led 25-15 at halftime, but Portageville (3-5) outscored the Mules 22-20 in the third quarter and kept it close in the final period until the Mules’ connections from the free-throw line in the last two minutes proved to be decisive.

Bernie’s leading scorer was Jon Aycock with 20 points.

Portageville’s Xayvion Bogun scored a game-high 21 points.