BCT 2023: Malden takes advantage of opportunity against short-handed Puxico

BLOOMFIELD – Regardless of which team was the No. 1 seed in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, of which Puxico was, any team trying to stop the steaming locomotive of a group that Malden is morphing into with each outing this season, was going to be a difficult task.

The Indians found that out on Thursday, as the Green Wave pulled away in the final period to win 70-62 and advance to the championship game for the first time since 2006.

“We played defense,” second-year Malden coach Mike Kilgore said of the critical stretch late in the game, “we rebounded, and we made layups. Those three things will win ballgames.”

Which is something that Malden (8-2) is doing with frequency of late.

Aside from a poor effort in a home loss to Dexter on the first day of this month, Malden has just one loss, which was an overtime defeat against a 7-2 Risco squad.

“I’ve just got hungry and dedicated players,” Kilgore said on Wednesday after beating Dexter by 53 points. “This is nothing that I am doing. It is all of my guys.”

Against the previously unbeaten Indians (9-1), the Green Wave were in position to win throughout the contest, but their chances were upped when Puxico’s 6-foot-4 junior post player Scyler Zimmerman injured his left ankle late in the second quarter and sat on the sidelines for the remainder of the night.

“In the first half,” third-year Puxico coach Bryant Fernetti said, “we shot the ball a little bit better because we were able to feed it to (Zimmerman) inside and suck (Malden’s) defense in.”

Zimmerman had scored 27 points in two tournament games prior to Thursday and had seven when he left the game.

Kilgore said that his absence didn’t affect Malden’s strategy, but it certainly took advantage of Puxico’s lack of length on the inside.

The Green Wave had size and strength in massive 6-foot-3 sophomore center Tahjai Smith, and length and athleticism in 6-foot-4 freshman Zion Bell and 6-foot-5 senior Marcus Burton, and Kilgore ordered his team to get those guys the ball at the offensive end and rely on them to contest Indian drives to the rack at the defensive end.

“They were able to feed it inside a little bit more because we didn’t have a whole lot of size,” Fernetti explained. “And then rebounding, (Zimmerman’s absence) really affected a lot.

“But our guys battled extremely hard.”

Puxico hit three of their six 3-pointers in the third quarter and were able to be tied with Malden early in the fourth period. However, the Green Wave forced some Indian turnovers with their pressure, Kilgore’s kids got some layups off drives that weren’t contested with any length, and Malden hit all four of its free throw attempts in the final period, all of which allowed the Green Wave to pull away in the final few minutes.

“We still had to stick with what we had to do,” Kilgore said, ‘and that is play Malden basketball. If (Puxico) had all guards or they had all big guys, we still have to play Malden basketball.”

Malden was paced by senior Quamereous Farmer and Payton Woodard, both of whom scored 15 points while Burton totaled 14 points.

Green Wave sophomore guard Tristin Moncrief added nine points in the win.

Puxico got a game-high 24 points from sophomore guard Jett Hancock while junior guard Jerrett Powell added 10.

The victory has the Green Wave on the cusp of history after not playing for a title in this event since 2006 when they beat Doniphan 66-61.

“We’ve been watching that 2006 team on YouTube,” Kilgore said. “They played hard.”

Malden had played for the 2005 title but lost to the Dons.

The Green Wave also claimed titles in 1987 and 1988, as well as 1969.

Malden will face No. 2 seed East Prairie (9-1) today at 8:30 p.m. The Eagles handled Van Buren 70-58 in the other championship semifinal.

East Prairie has not played for a Christmas Tournament title since 1985 and has never won the event.