JANUARY MADNESS: SCAA, Big Springs Conference tourneys tip off next week

Both the Stoddard County Athletic Association and the Big Springs Conference tournaments will tip off next week and hoops fans should be ready for what could offer some good storylines and drama.

The SCAA boys tournament will take place at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter, home of the top-seeded Bearcats, while the BSC girls and boys brackets will be played out at Couch High School.

SCAA

The Dexter Bearcats (12-4) are the top seed at this year’s tournament and open up play 8:30 p.m. Monday against No. 8 Bell City.

The Bearcats are led by Cole Nichols, Brayden Pullum, and Truman Krapf, who have all had big games over the course of the last month or so for the squad.

Head coach Chad Allen expects a barnburner of a tournament.

“It's a very competitive field this year,” Allen said. “We are playing with a lot of confidence offensively and our defense has been pretty solid. I hope we can continue to do that throughout the rest of the season and of course during the tournament next week.”

Dexter is the tournament’s four-time defending champion.

The boys from Puxico (12-4) will have high hopes coming in and head coach Bryant Fernetti is not looking past opening opponent Woodland.

“I feel like we can compete with any team on any night,” Fernetti said. “Woodland is a very good, athletic team that is well coached. They will play hard and be a tough match-up. Hopefully, we can show up and compete with them. We will have to rebound and defend at a high level.”

The last time the program won this tournament was in 1984 so why not take a trending team to the heights this next week?

“I feel great about our team,” Fernetti said. “They play extremely hard and play together. As long as we commit to playing defense and rebounding we will be in every game.”

As for Bloomfield (3-13) and coach Kyle Keith, the sixth-rated squad has a chance again against Bernie who they gave fits in the opener of their own tournament prior to the New Year.

“I think Dexter is the best team in the tournament and the favorite to win,” Keith said. “I think we are seeded right about where we should be.

“This will be the fourth time we will play Bernie this year. We have to limit (Tristan) Johnson and (Michia) Schooley as much as possible.

“I think defensively we are starting to really play hard. We are getting back to full health. I am hoping everything starts to fall into place.”

As for the eighth-seeded squad from Bell City (3-12), sure they have a tall task opening against Dexter, but when you have nothing to lose, why not go for broke?

“I do believe Dexter is the favorite, but there are several teams in our conference who are very capable and have the ability to win it all,” Bell City head coach Luke Bixler said. “I'm curious to see how it all shakes out. We received the eighth seed in this tournament so obviously, we are toward the bottom of this food chain but I know and trust that my guys are going to work hard, fight and compete every day to get better.”

Bixler is impressed with the Bearcats work ethic and the team’s coaching.

“It will be a tough match-up for us but we are not going to back down,” Bixler said. “We will play hard and together and give our best efforts to make the game competitive.

“I really like this team: I got a group of guys who are learning to play the right way and that are hungry to win. We are definitely taking steps in the right direction and it's all starting to come together. Guys are starting to understand their roles and have found chemistry playing with one another. We are excited about the direction the program is headed in and the way guys have responded over the course of the season.”

Bell City has won the tournament seven times with the last run coming in 2008.

SCAA Tournament Schedule

Monday, January 23

No. 2 Advance vs No. 7 Richland, 4 p.m.

No. 1 Dexter vs No. 8 Bell City, 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, January 24

No. 4 Puxico vs. No. 5 Woodland, 5:30 p.m.

No. 3 Bernie vs. No. 6 Bloomfield, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 26

Semifinals

Dexter/Bell City winner vs. Puxico/Woodland winner

Advance/Richland winner vs. Bernie/Bloomfield winner

Friday, January 27

Third-place game, 5:30 (Semifinal losers play)

Championship game, 8:30 (Semifinal winners play)

BSC

The Ellington girls (8-6) are their tournament’s favorite as the No. 1 seed and the four-time defending champions while Van Buren heads over to Couch as the No. 3 seed.

The Lady Whippets were finishing off the Black River League tournament Saturday in that title game and it’s on to the next which head coach David Burrows called plenty of “fun.”

“It’s always tougher to seed when you haven’t played everyone though,” Burrows said. “Even though we are the favorites we still have to be ready to go and play 100 percent of the game and not let up.

“The best thing I’ve seen this year is watching this team learning to play together more and more every game. Which in return can be a scary thing at the end of the season for teams playing us. We will always give 100 percent effort every time we step on the floor.”

The Lady Dawgs of Van Buren (7-9) have hit a bit of a rough patch after a 4-0 start, but they have a shot to change that narrative this week.

“The BSC is a great conference to be a part of,” Van Buren girls coach Torrie Ricker said. “I think we were seeded fairly. There are a lot of wins and losses that made seeding the tournament a little difficult for me. I felt we could have been the No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

“The keys to this tournament are showing up to play. When we show up to play, we are one of the top teams in the area and we are hard to guard. I think the tournament is up for grabs for nearly anyone, whoever shows up to play will go home with the championship.”

Van Buren won the title in 2017-18, the last to do so since the current Ellington run, and Ricker likes her team in this field.

“We are the only team in the entire conference to have previously beaten Ellington,” Ricker said. “We did later lose to them when we faced them again, but I think that gives my girls some confidence going into the tournament. We like where we are at, we just have to show up ready to play. We want to play with some confidence, but we have to find our fight again and be ready to leave it all on the court if we want to make a name for ourselves in the tournament.”

As for the Van Buren boys, they are the eighth seed and take on No. 1 Bunker to tip things off (see full schedule below).

“I see this tournament as balanced as it’s been in quite some time,” Van Buren head coach Jacob Black said. “Being the eighth seed, we have an uphill climb going against the favorite.

“Whoever can get hot and play solid basketball during the week will have a good shot. Anyone can beat anyone this week.”

Van Buren (4-9) last won the title in 2019.

“I have seen growth and we are just now getting healthy and it’s exciting especially coming at the right time,” Black said.

The Ellington boys (6-9) are seeded fifth and have seen steady growth in their play under head coach Jeremy Peterson.

“We are starting to put four quarters together both offensively and defensively which has paid off the last three games in wins as well as a new confidence level for our guys,” Peterson said prior to Thursday’s loss to South Iron. “ We have been consistently having 3-5 guys in double figures offensively since the new year as well as all of them contributing in the rebounds, assists, and steals area. We are playing real unselfish basketball right now and together on both ends of the floor.”

“Keys to this tournament is to take it one game at a time, make sure were mentally and physically rested and focused because of all the travel and late nights along with the parity that this tournament presents.”

Ellington joined the BSC in 2010-11 and since then they captured three titles, the last being in 2016-17.

He hopes his squad can come off the BRL tournament ready to go for the grind of back-to-back tournament appearances.

“We will be coming off playing three games in the BRL tournament since we won our first-round game on Tuesday and will not have much time to prepare for our first-round game on Tuesday,” Peterson said. “Bunker has to be the favorite in the BSC this year, although the second-seeded Couch team, especially at home, will be a handful.

“Quite honestly there is a lot of parity in this year’s BSC on the boy’s side. I believe any teams 1-8 can beat each other on a given night, which is very rare.”

BSC Schedule

MONDAY

Girls First Round

No. 1 Ellington, bye

No. 4 Alton vs. No. 5 Couch, 4 p.m.

No. 2 Bunker vs. No. 7 Winona, 5:30 p.m.

No. 3 Van Buren vs. No. 6 Summersville, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY

Boys First Round

No. 1 Bunker vs. No. 8 Van Buren, 4 p.m.

No. 4 Eminence vs. No. 5 Ellington, 5:30 p.m.

No. 2 Couch vs. No. 7 Summersville, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Alton vs. No. 6 Winona, 8:30 p.m.

Thursday

Girls Semifinals

Ellington vs. Alton/Couch winner, 4 p.m.

Bunker/Winona winner vs. Van Buren/Summersville winner, 5:30 p.m.

Boys Semifinals

Bunker/Van Buren winner vs. Eminence/Ellington winner, 7 p.m.

Couch/Summersville winner vs. Alton/Winona winner, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday

Girls Third-Place game, 11:30 a.m. (featuring semifinal losers)

Girls Championship game, 2:30 p.m. (featuring semifinal winners)

Editor's note: All team records listed are as of Thursday’s action