BCT: Puxico unleashes its defense in route to title game

Puxico High School senior center Scyler Zimmerman defends against Bernie in the championship semifinal round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Saturday.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

BLOOMFIELD — Bernie High School varsity boys basketball coach Jason Long has been at this long enough to know that his team faced a tough test in upsetting top-seed Puxico in the championship semifinal round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Saturday.

For 16 minutes, the Mules had a puncher’s chance at hanging with the Class 2 No. 5-ranked Indians, as they trailed 26-19 at halftime. However, in the third quarter, Puxico unleashed a torrent of defense and simply stole the game – literally – from the Mules.

Puxico limited Bernie to just four points in the third quarter and ran away with a resounding 61-38 victory.

“We’ve got a lot of good individual defenders,” fourth-year Puxico coach Bryant Fernetti said following the rout.

The Indians (8-1) pressured the young Mules (Bernie has just two seniors in its main rotation) and repeatedly turned the Mules over and scored off the opportunities, as they outscored Bernie 22-4 in that critical period.

“We really do have pretty good man-to-man defenders,” Fernetti continued, “and we’ve done a lot of work on that over the last two, three years. We’re getting better at man-to-man defense, and I think it’s kind of paying off.”

Puxico opened the tournament by holding Gideon to just 32 points before allowing Richland to score 49 in a quarterfinal loss to the Indians.

Fernetti had junior guard Landan Burchard key that zone press, which drops back into man coverage at the halfcourt, and Burchard scored 14 of his game-high 31 points in the third period.

Once the Indians got back into half-court defense, Fernetti has senior wing Kasyn Long, who is tremendously versatile defensively.

“Kaysen can guard the other team’s best player,” Fernetti explained, “whether he’s a point guard or a post player. That really helps.”

BCT: Puxico rides Burchard, free throws to redemption W

Tom Davis

BLOOMFIELD -- Richland (Essex) did a nice job of shutting down the perimeter shooting of top-seed Puxico in the team's championship quarterfinal battle on Friday in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. However, as the opposition has learned by facing the Indians over the last couple of years, they can hurt you in a lot of ways.

Bernie got a basket each from sophomore forward Hunter Massey and senior guard Taven Owens in the third period, but nothing else.

The Indians limited talented Mule sophomore forward Jon Aycock to just nine points in the game and one night after sophomore guard Blayne Morgan had 21 points in a win against Kennett, he managed just 12 against Puxico, and no field goals after halftime.

“A lot of kids like to press (defensively),” Fernetti said, “because it is more of a fun style. The harder thing is trying to get them to play half-court man.”

Morgan and Aycock paced Bernie (5-3) while sophomore Hunter Massey chipped in eight points in the loss.

Indian senior Mason Parsley added 12 points in the win while junior guard Jett Hancock added 10 points.

Puxico moves on to the championship game on Monday at 8:30 p.m. against No. 3-seed Dexter (6-5). The Bearcats topped East Prairie 56-47 in the other championship semifinal.

The Indians vs. Bearcat battle for the title is the first time since 1965 that a pair of Stoddard County teams have played for the tournament title.