Bernie beats Oran by a dozen in "Bragging Rights Game"

Note: 22 photos of the action are available in a gallery at this link: View Photos Here

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The state-ranked Bernie Mules varsity boys basketball team scored the final seven points of the first quarter to break a 12-12 tie and padded its lead the rest of the way as it secured a 65-53 victory against the Oran Eagles Wednesday night at the Show Me Center.

"I thought we did a good job defensively the majority of the night," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said of the win against Oran, which placed fourth at the Class 2 final four last season. "They hurt us with some dribble penetration late in the first half. I thought we cleaned some of that up and did a better job containing them. They also had some offensive rebounds and we did a better job the second half boxing out. In fact, there were several box outs that the ball hit the floor before we got it. If you are doing that and trying to stay fundamental you give yourself a good chance to win."

Oran led 2-0, 6-5 and 10-9 in the first quarter before falling behind seven by the start of the second quarter.

The Mules increased its lead to eight three times in the second quarter before Oran trimmed the deficit to 31-28 with 31 seconds left in the first half.

Bernie opened the second half with an 8-2 run to increase its lead to 41-30 with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter.

"We got ourselves in a hole and we had to start doing a little gambling on defense," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "They're a well disciplined, well coached basketball team and they did what they needed to do and took advantage of it. They hit shots."

The Eagles managed to trim the deficit to 44-36 by the start of the fourth quarter.

Bernie senior guard Jake Wagner hit three of his four 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter as the margin swelled to 59-43 with four minutes remaining.

"Those were some big 3's he knocked down for us," Botsch said. "B.J. and our other guards were able to find him when they brought out some full court pressure and he was able to leak out and get set. When Jake gets set he can knock them down."

Eight players scored for Bernie.

Senior guard B.J. Jennings scored eight of his 19 points in the first quarter.

Junior center Caleb Ellenburg scored at least two 2-pointers in every period. He also finished with 19 points for the Mules.

"He finished well around the rim and we didn't," Shoemaker said of Ellenburg. "One of the things he did was take it with his left hand well. We had that scouted, but we didn't do a good enough job of coaching to get our guys to take that away and force him to his off-hand. I think that was a lot of the difference in the basketball game."

Wagner tallied all 12 of his points on treys.

Oran standout Seth Ressel scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half. He finished a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe.

"They are quick off the dribble," Botsch said of Oran.

Jacob Priggel tallied nine of his 15 points in the fourth period for the Eagles. Hunter Schlosser scored 10 points for Oran.

"We had a lot of shots that just rolled out and a lot of that was due to their defense," Shoemaker said. "We haven't shot this poorly in a while. Some of it was their defense and some of it was us just not shooting well."

The Mules (12-1) have one day to prepare before visiting conference rival Dexter Friday. Dexter beat Bernie 54-53 last season.

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bernie's Bubby Schwent takes a shot in the paint at the Show Me Center.

"Anytime you play Dexter it's going to be a battle," Botsch said. "It's a rivalry game and you can throw records and anything else out the window. We fully expect it to be highly competitive. We just want to come out of there with a win going into the seed meeting on Saturday."

Bernie 65, Oran 53

OHS 12 16 8 17 - 53

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bernie's Matt Vernon drives past the Oran defense Wednesday night in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

BHS 19 14 11 21 - 65

ORAN (53) - Thomas Trankler 2, Jacob Priggel 15, Chance Tenkhoff 5, Seth Ressel 20, Garrison Mangels 1, Hunter Schlosser 10. FG 20, FT 12/17, F 12. (3-pointers: Priggel 1. Fouled out: none)

BERNIE (65) - Jake Wagner 12, B.J. Jennings 19, Justin Stanfield 5, J.R. Pregel 2, Devin Trammell 2, Bubby Schwent 2, Joey Walker 4, Caleb Ellenburg 19. FG 27, FT 4/7, F 14. (3-pointers: Wagner 4, Jennings 1, Stanfield 1. Fouled out: none)