Massey buzzer-beater saves Mules against Dexter, again

Dexter High School junior forward Devin Turnbo (left) and Bernie High School sophomore Hunter Massey battle for a rebound on Thursday at Bernie High School.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

BERNIE – Eighteen years plus an extra day has traversed since former Bernie High School basketball player Marcus Massey sank a jump shot at the buzzer to knock off Stoddard County rival Dexter, which set off a wild celebration of Mules jumping all over each other.

So, it was only fitting that Massey, now a Mule assistant coach, had a front-row seat to witness Thursday’s dramatic occurrence between the two teams at Bernie High School.

With Bernie trailing 59-57, and its top scorer, 6-foot-4 sophomore Jon Aycock on the bench with five fouls, Mule sophomore Hunter Massey, the nephew of Marcus, sank a turnaround jumper from the short corner at the buzzer to force overtime, again, setting off a chaotic scene in which Massey, the younger version, was engulfed by his teammates in a euphoric scramble of jubilation.

Four minutes later, the Bearcats missed consecutive point-blank lay-ins at the end of overtime, which gave the Mules a 70-68 overtime victory.

“When we are playing fundamentally,” Bernie coach Jason Long said following the win, “and playing together, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we have the capability of doing some really nice, positive things.”

The Mules (9-3) made countless high-pressure shots in the late stages of the battle, which were often negated by Dexter scoring off continued looks at its basket following offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive.

“We tell our guys to fly around,” veteran Dexter coach Chad Allen said. “When we are standing and watching and being spectators, we’re not going to be very good.”

That wasn’t an issue on Thursday, as the Bearcats finished the night with an offensive rebound by sophomore post Elijah Ibrahim following a missed lay-in by junior guard John Sepulvado. Both shots were inches from forcing a second overtime.

“Down the stretch,” Allen continued, “I thought we executed extremely well. It just didn’t go the way that we wanted it to tonight.”

Thursday’s Mule victory was just the fifth in the past 15 meetings between the rivals.

“They are all good players,” Allen said of Bernie. “They have great shooters. Since they have great shooters, it makes it tough defensively.”

One of those “great shooters” for the hosts was sophomore guard Cane Hobgood, who buried eight three-pointers in the win, but none more critical than midway through the extra session.

With the Mules trailing 64-61, Hobgood buried consecutive long shots to give the Mules a 67-64 advantage.

“Cane is a reserved, quiet kid,” Long said of Hobgood, who never showed any emotion following his numerous big makes. “He’s an excellent kid, forget the basketball (part of it).”

Dexter junior forward Devin Turnbo connected on a pair of free throws with 28 seconds remaining to trim the Bearcat deficit to 67-66, but Bernie sophomore point guard Blayne Morgan drove down the court, and when an opening along the left side of the lane presented itself, he made the decision to take it to the rack.

Morgan flew down the side of the paint wildly, but somehow managed to loft the ball against the glass and it rolled in for a 69-66 lead with 18 seconds on the clock.

Turnbo hit a lay-up with 11 seconds remaining for a 69-68 Bernie lead, and Hobgood added one free throw with eight seconds remaining, which set up the final flurry of action in which Dexter couldn’t finish at the rim.

“It’s always a big rivalry between us,” Allen said.

Hobgood paced Bernie with 25 points while Aycock added 22 points.

Morgan chipped in 11 points.

Dexter had its own “great shooter” in senior guard Tucker Temples, who sank six 3-pointers and totaled a team-leading 18 points.

Turnbo scored 17 points and Sepulvado tallied 11.

Dexter (7-8) will host Class 2 No. 3-ranked Puxico (13-1) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Bernie will host Bloomfield (7-5) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.