Hornets sting Dexter;earn share of conference title

The Advance Hornets spoiled Dexter's senior night and claimed a share of the SCAA Conference title with a 68-59 win Thursday evening.

Dexter's Cole Nichols opened the scoring with two point jump shot but it was Advance who had the hot hand to start the game.

Hayden Hitt and Hayden Laird each hit a trey and Colton Silman added a two point jump shot along with another three from Hitt. Dexter Coach Chad Allen called a timeout with his team trailing 17-11.

Dexter trailed by as many as 10 in the first quarter before cutting the lead to 25-17 at the end of the quarter.

Dexter's offense found its legs and the Bearcats took their first lead after a 9-0 run powered by a trey from Brayden Pullum and two treys from Truman Krapf. Krapf recorded a trio of three point buckets for 9 points in the quarter. Nichols added 8 points in the second quarter and the Bearcats took a 38-33 lead into the locker room.

“I am really really proud of these kids to step up here tonight,” said Advance coach Bubba Wheetley. “We had a tough week. We played Cooter and their a good team in 2A. We beat them on Monday, we travelled to Oran on Tuesday and we had a little set back, we got beat”

“For these kids to step back up here and to beat a team like Dexter. And Dexter is really good, they are,” said Wheetley. ”We scrapped and things just went our way. We rebounded and we took care of the basketball mainly. I think that was a big difference in this gam, we took care of the basketball.”

Advance came out after half and regained control of the game going on a 14-7 run to take a 48-45 lead. Dexter cut the lead to one after Nichols hit jumper in the paint to make 51-50 with four seconds to go in the third. Advance rushed the ball downcourt and Hitt nailed a three at the buzzer to stretch the lead back to four.

“This needs to be a wake up call for us,” said Dexter coach Chad Allen. “Defensively, we just dod not play well at all tonight. We are going to take a look at thw film tomorrow morning and show the guys. We just gotta have a better effort defensively.”

Nichols opened the fourth to bring Dexter back within one but Dexter got no closer.

The Hornets held the Bearcats at arms length the rest of the way and nailed free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

“We came out pressing in our matchup and stayed right there but we gave up to much to Nichols and Krapf, they got to many looks,” said Wheetley.” We switched to our diamond and one. Of course they played us in a diamond and one as well. We picked it and did well in the second half.”

“We are going to go back to work tomorrow and prepare for Bloomfield (in the district tournament next),” said Wheetley. “We know wanyone in that district can win that. We are that close, we are all pretty close teams.”

“We are going to enjoy this one,” said Wheetley. “This is a big win for them, it really really is. Cooter was Monday night, then like I said we had the let down. And now we get this down then we get this win, this is a really big win for these kids. You gotta look forward to going to practice tomorrow.”

“We definitely have to get back on track,” said Allen. “We have to go to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is definitely a good tea. We are just going to have to get prepared for them, they are a district opponent. We come out like this next Tuesday its going to be the same result. We just have to make a quick turn around and get ready for Notre Dame on Tuesday.”

Dexter and Advance both finish with a 6-1 record in SCAA play and will share the conference title.

Advance will begin district play against Bloomfield Monday at Bloomfield and the Bearcats will travel to Notre Dame on Tuesday for its final regular season game.

Hayden Laird led Advance with 24 points, Hayden Hitt added 15, Braylen Colton 11, Colton Silman scored 10, Jaxon Limbaugh and Jack Bailey each had two and Kip Holman scored one. Cole Nichols led Dexter with a game high 29 points, Truman Krapf scored 12, Brayden Pullum scored 7, Peyton Boles 5, Chris Stone 4 and Ethan Zabeln 2.