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Bloomfield 'grinding' its way to success despite offensive woes
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Second-year Bloomfield High School varsity boys basketball coach Ben Sindle speaks with an official during the recent Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
Given its struggles offensively this basketball season, the fact that the Bloomfield varsity boys squad has battled its way to seven victories with 10 regular season games, as well as the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament and postseason, remaining, is fairly impressive.
“Our players work,” second-year Wildcat coach Ben Sindle said recently. “They work so hard. They are a bunch of grinders.”
The Wildcats will visit Sindle’s alma mater today at 7:30 p.m. when they face Dexter (6-7) in the Bearcat Event Center.
Bloomfield had its most successful season last winter since 2017, as it won 11 games. That mark is within reach again this winter, but the Wildcats are going to need to find some offensive production in the wake of losing senior forward Kayden Craft to an ankle injury for most of this season.
“With the team that we have,” Sindle said, “we have to be gritty. We have to do the hard things.”
Bloomfield’s margin for error against any team, let alone a Class 4 opponent like Dexter, is minimal.
“In practice,” Sindle explained, “we call them the little things. We’ve got to do the little things right to be successful and to be competitive with where we are right now.”
The Wildcats have lowered their defensive average this season to a meager 46.7 points per game. That number is the best for the program since the 2016 squad, which advanced to the MSHSAA Class 2 Final Four.
It is a good thing the Wildcats are defending well because they are laboring offensively.
Bloomfield is scoring less than 45 points per game, which is the lowest since the 2021 season.
“Our motto is ‘Adversity brings opportunity,’” Sindle said. “We’ve just got to make the most of it.”
The Wildcats can easily get points from senior guard Caleb Upchurch, who can score in bunches. But Sindle needs other players to step up and produce, which is something that senior Law Graser did in the recent Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Graser didn’t score in a win over Malden, but he produced a total of 26 points in games against Risco, Doniphan, and Twin Rivers.
“We really need confidence,” Sindle said of his team’s offense after losing to Risco. “Confidence is the biggest key.
“We have kids who can knock shots down. They can make shots.”
Another Wildcat player who showed an ability to score the ball recently was junior Colton Grigery, who tallied 34 points in the four Bloomfield Christmas Tournament games.
“Our guys need to trust in themselves,” Sindle continued on the offensive talk, “and believe in themselves when it comes to knocking shots down.”
Bloomfield has not played since December 30 while the Bearcats are coming off a recent 55-36 loss at Cape Central.
Dexter advanced to the championship game of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, where it fell to Puxico 64-60 in overtime.
"We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year,” veteran Dexter coach Chad Allen told Semoball.com during the run in the Bloomfield event. “We’ve definitely improved a lot.”