Advance boys basketball team stings Dexter

ADVANCE, Mo. -- The Advance Hornets led wire to wire as they secured a 64-53 homecoming victory against the Dexter Bearcats on Friday night.

Advance displayed a balanced offensive attack from the get-go as it tallied three 3-pointers and three 2-point field goals in the first period. The game was tied 3-3 with 5:20 left in the first period before Advance scored nine unanswered points to move ahead 12-3 with 1:52 left in the first quarter and maintained a 15-8 lead at the start of the second quarter.

"It makes a world of difference when we knock downs shots," Advance coach Dennis Wheetley said. "I thought we worked the ball well and played together well. They didn't care who scored. We got the ball inside to Dawson, which opened things up outside."

Dexter trailed by single digits for the first five minutes of the second quarter. The Hornets outscored the Bearcats 7-0 in the final three minutes of the first half and entered halftime with their largest lead of the first half at 34-20.

"We talked about rebounding," Wheetley said. "Dexter rebounds the ball well and crashes the offensive glass. I thought the first half we beat them on the boards. The second half was a little different story. They beat us on the boards the second half a little bit, and we struggled a little bit with their press. But, overall, I felt like we played pretty good."

Preston Wuebker opened the second half with his fourth 3-pointer of the game, which padded the Hornets' advantage to 37-20.

Dexter, which increased the number of points it scored in every quarter, made up ground quickly after.

The Bearcats cut the deficit to 44-36 by the end of the third period and trailed by just six with 7:22 remaining in regulation after Ethan Flowers opened the fourth period with a 2-pointer.

A see-saw battle continued the rest of the way with Dexter cutting the deficit to 46-40 with 5:16 remaining, Advance scoring the next five points to increase its lead to 51-40 with 4:30 remaining, Dexter cutting the deficit to 54-47 with 3:11 left, Advance padding the margin to 59-47 with 1:33 remaining, Dexter narrowing the margin to 60-53 with 15 seconds left and Advance scoring the final four points to set the final score.

"Advance simply played with more energy and passion than we did tonight," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "We have so little room for error. We had two or three possessions down six where we made poor decisions with the ball. It is difficult to comeback when you turn the ball over."

Advance used its final three timeouts in the first six minutes of the fourth period to help prevent a Dexter rally.

"I knew I had to use them," Wheetley said. "Because we would give up an offensive board and they would get a putback. They got closer to our lead, and I thought it was time to use our timeouts."

Dalton Wilson paced Advance with 21 points.

Wuebker hit five of the Hornets seven treys. Brian Whitson hit Advance's other two 3-pointers. Both players finished with 16 points.

Ethan Flowers led Dexter with 17 points. He had four 2-pointers and three 3-pointers.

Jacob Pedigo, Jason Jarrell and Noah Kronk combined to shoot 12 of 12 from the free-throw line for Dexter. Pedigo finished with 14 points, Jarrell scored 12 points and Kronk tallied nine points.

Dexter 8 12 16 17 -- 53

Advance 15 19 10 20 -- 64

DEXTER (53) -- Noah Kronk 9, Jason Jarrell 10, Jacob Pedigo 14, Austin Chesser 3, Ethan Flower 17. FT 18, FT 12/12, F 20. (3-pointers: Flowers 3, Chesser 1, Pedigo 1. Fouled out: Chesser)

ADVANCE (64) -- Preston Wuebker 16, Brian Whitson 16, Austin Ladd 6, Dalton Wilson 21, Grant Woodfin 2, Dawson Mayo 3. FG 21, FT 15/22, F 10. (3-pointers: Wuebker 5, Whitson 2. Fouled out: None)

JV -- Dexter won 43-40