Malden's Nick Perkins, left, and Zech Payne grab a loose ball between Puxico's Kerry McClure, far left, and David Crain (33) during the third place game of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Saturday. (Paul Davis/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By MIKE BUHLER ~ Special to the DAR

BLOOMFIELD -- The Puxico Indians used their outstanding 3-point shooting to slay two giants at this year's Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

The Malden Green Wave made sure it didn't become victim No. 3 Saturday night, limiting the Indians to just three treys overall in a 67-51 victory over the 12th seed at the 51st annual tournament.

"That was the gameplan," Malden coach Robert Ison said. "(We wanted) to make sure we covered those 3-point shooters. That's why we wanted to start out in that man-toman full-court defense, because J Hon and Kerry McClure are such good 3-point threats."

Puxico coach Josh Dowdy echoed Ison's thoughts.

"They came out and applied a lot of pressure," said Dowdy. "I noticed that they did that against Doniphan. Anytime you can hold Doniphan under 50 points, you have to consider that a success.

"They did an excellent job of taking care of Kerry and J behind the arc."

Ironically, it was Malden that got it done behind the arc, draining four triples in the opening period to build a 20-11 lead after one quarter.

"Marvin Fields, our little point guard, did a really good job of shooting the ball tonight," said Ison. "I was happy to see that from him."

Leading the charge for the Wave in the early going was senior point guard Marvin Fields, who hit three 3-pointers in the first seven minutes of Saturday's game.

"Marvin was really disappointed after last night," Ison said. "He came out focused and ready to play tonight."

Travis Stuart's basket cut the lead to 22-15 with 4:09 left in the half, but the Green Wave (10-2) responded with a 10-0 run that was capped by Fields' fourth 3 of the half as Malden led 34-18 at the break.

"If I'm not mistaken, we went to that half-court trap and was able to get some steals and easy baskets," said Ison.

The Indians did not give up, cutting the lead to 36-25 early in the third quarter on John Smith's basket at the 6:18 mark, but Malden ran off nine straight points to make it a 20-point game (45-25) on Fields' bucket with 3:34 left in the third.

Puxico's Matt Allison (20) shoots in front of Malden's Chad Hudson. (Paul Davis/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

Puxico never came any closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

Nick Perkins led the Green Wave with a game-high 20 points, while Fields tossed in 18 and Chad Hudson finished with 13.

David Crain paced the Indians with 18 points --17 of those coming after halftime -- while Smith contributed 13.

"John Smith and Matt Allison did a great job of taking it to the hole," Dowdy said, "but their big boys inside did a good job of altering his shots."

Still, the tourney was a success for the Indians, who came away with a top-four finish after coming in as the event's No.12 seed.

"I am really proud of this team," said Dowdy. "We came into this tournament seeded 12th and finished fourth."

Notes: Puxico's fourth-place finish was the Indians' highest since 1989, when it last won the tournament. ... On the other hand, Malden won the tournament last year and has finished in the top three the last three years. ... Fields' four 3-pointers was more than Puxico hit as a team Saturday.