Bloomfield hoops knocks off Dexter for historic W

BLOOMFIELD – The last time that Bloomfield High School earned a varsity boy’s basketball victory over Dexter, Ben Sindle walked off the historic court in the Wildcats’ gym in a sour mood.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

Sindle, a former Bearcat star shooter, who is now in his first season as the Bloomfield head coach, guided his team to a thrilling 46-44 win over Dexter. It was the Wildcats’ first win over the big school to the South since Jan. 28, 2016, when Sindle was just a sophomore guard trying to navigate the challenging waters of varsity hoops.

“It means a lot,” Sindle said of the win, both personally and professionally.

As the score indicates, this was a back-and-forth contest, with the Wildcats (6-6) making critical plays in the final minutes, whereas Dexter (3-9) failed to do so.

The Bearcats had taken a 44-43 lead with just over a minute remaining. However, Wildcat junior Caleb Upchurch hit, what proved to be the game-winner, with 22 seconds left on the clock, to put Bloomfield up 45-44.

The basket never appeared to be a certainty, other than to Sindle, as Upchurch drove into a Dexter triple-team at the mid-lane mark and rose up and buried the jumper.

“That is his shot,” Sindle said of the 8-footer, “he works on that in practice. It is one of those situations where it went in, so we are happy about it.

“That is a look that we wanted.”

To that point in the game, Dexter had sunk all seven of its free throw attempts, so, when Bearcat senior center Ethan Zebelin was fouled on a drive with 9.9 seconds on the clock, and his team down just one point, it appeared history would have to wait for another night.

Neither of Zabelin’s free throws were close, and Bloomfield’s Kayden Craft was fouled with 7.5 seconds remaining. Craft missed the first free throw but buried the second for the final margin.

The final Bearcat possession was discombobulated, and a 3-point heave from sophomore guard Carte Stone was nowhere near the intended mark, which set off a jubilant Wildcat celebration.

“Dexter is always a physical team,” Sindle said of his alma mater. “I’m more happy for these guys (than myself).”

Sindle’s best research showed that Bloomfield basketball squads – at all levels – had dropped 25 of their 26 basketball games against the Bearcats since that 60-55 win eight years ago in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament, which interestingly, had followed two earlier losses that season to Dexter.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Sindle said.

The night didn’t appear to be going Bloomfield’s way early on.

Dexter was feeding Zabelin the ball on the blocks with frequency, as it took a 9-4 lead early in the second quarter.

“in the first half,” Dexter coach Chad Allen said, “we really concentrated on getting Ethan the ball. In the second half, he didn’t get very many touches.”

Zabelin had eight points at halftime and finished with 14 points, but never scored in the third period.

The Bearcats, who were without two varsity starters (sophomore John Sepulvado and junior Tucker Temples), were led by sophomore Gibson Booker, who hit four 3-pointers en route to 21 points.

Upchurch paced Bloomfield with 16 points while senior Lucas Dowdy (nine points), Craft (eight points), junior Matt Sanders (seven points), and senior Aiden Hutchison (six points) also contributed.

The Wildcats will vie for the program’s seventh win on Friday at Class 3 No. 15-ranked Malden (11-2) at 7:30 p.m. The Green Wave won the recent Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Dexter will host Stoddard County rival Bernie (5-5) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.