Dexter M.S. boys sweep Charleston in final basketball games of 2013 season

CHARLESTON, Mo. - The Dexter middle school boys basketball program ended its season on a high note Wednesday night.

The Dexter Bearcats collected a pair of victories at traditional juggernaut Charleston.

The Dexter seventh grade improved to 13-1 on the season with a 34-29 victory against Charleston.

The Dexter eighth grade snapped a five-game losing streak with a 54-37 win against Charleston. The Dexter eighth grade finishes its season with a record of 10-5.

Neither team led by double digits in the Dexter-Charleston seventh grade contest. Charleston's largest lead was 14-6 in the opening minute of the second quarter and Dexter's largest lead was five three times in the second half.

Dexter trailed 9-3 at the end of the first quarter. The Bearcats took its first lead of the game when it went on an 11-0 run to move ahead 17-14 with 11 seconds left in the first half. Dexter led 17-16 at halftime and 27-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Latrell Porter scored all five of Charleston's fourth-quarter points. He finished with five points.

Dexter trailed 29-27 with 2:53 remaining in regulation but held Charleston scoreless the rest of the way.

A 2-pointer by Nate Gargas tied things up at 29-29 with 2:38 remaining. A free throw by Seth Rogers gave Dexter a 30-29 lead with 1:20 left and two more free throws by Eric Hahn extended the lead to 32-29 with 27 seconds remaining.

Braxton Foster hit two free throws with three seconds remaining to account for Dexter's final points.

Hahn hit four of Dexter's five treys. He finished with a team-high 14 points. Rogers scored nine points and Foster added eight more.

Dexter never trailed Charleston in the eighth grade contest. The Bearcats opened up an early 10-2 lead less than three minutes into the first quarter and increased its lead to 34-15 by halftime.

Bo McMullin and Gabe Jackson paced Dexter with 19 and 16 points in the eighth grade contest.

Kavarri Lee scored 13 points for Charleston and Mardareyon Clark also finished in double digits with 11 points.

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Dexter seventh grader Joe Rice attacks the Charleston defense Wednesday.

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7th Grade Boys:

Dexter 34, Charleston 29

DMS 3 14 8 9 - 34

CMS 9 7 8 5 - 29

DEXTER (34) - Seth Rogers 9, Nate Gargas 3, Eric Hahn 14, Braxton Foster 8. (3-pointers: Hahn 4, Rogers 1)

CHARLESTON (29) - Preston Moore 3, Latrell Porter 5, Ajay Sager 7, Tahj Walker 8, Clifford Johnson 6. (3-pointers: Moore 1, Sager 1)

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8th Grade Boys:

Dexter 54, Charleston 37

DMS 17 17 11 9 - 54

CMS 11 4 10 12 - 37

DEXTER (54) - Marcus Woodson 2, Kole Kelley 2, Nick Trout 6, Spencer Owens 2, Bo McMullin 19, Gabe Jackson 16, Trevor McDonald 2. Ben Sindle 5. (3-pointers: Sindle 1)

CHARLESTON (37) - Kavarri Lee 13, Mardareyon Clark 11, Lee Thomas Moody 5, Ke'Sean Chillers-Griffin 6, James Crane 2. (3-pointers: Clark 3, Moody 1)

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Dexter seventh graders No. 24 Braxton Foster and No. 1 Seth Rogers eye their coach.

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