Puxico overwhelms Bernie at both ends in road rout

BERNIE – Throughout this week’s Stoddard County Athletic Association Boy’s Basketball Tournament, talent alone won’t carry a team to a championship, though it will certainly help.

To win three games in a five-day period against stiff competition, the top team is going to need depth, among several things, and Puxico exhibited that trait well in Friday’s 70-42 thumping of Bernie at Bernie High School.

“We have so many guys who can play,” third-year Indian coach Bryant Fernetti said following the win. “We have nine guys, so we should play hard. If you go so hard, and then you’re tired, we have four guys on the bench who can come in.”

The Indians (13-1) are the top seed in the SCAA Tournament, and they pressured the Mules into submission over the final three periods at both ends of the floor.

“They just turned us over,” Mule coach Jason Long said. “Our turnovers, you give a team like Puxico that many extra possessions… and then on top of that, you combine that with their ability on offense, that makes it tough.”

The Mules (6-6) had won two consecutive games (against Advance and at Dexter) leading into the game and hung with the Class 3 No. 8-ranked Indians through the opening quarter.

Puxico led just 15-12 early in the second period before tearing off in that quarter.

The Indian defense shut Bernie down and allowed the hosts to make just three field goals for six points in the second period, while Puxico got 20 points from five different players, two of whom didn’t even start the game, and led 35-18 at the intermission and the game was essentially decided at that point.

“We’ve played a lot of basketball,” Fernetti said of his players, “where they just make plays that you don’t really teach.”

The Indians seemingly got the vast majority of loose balls, rebounds, and tipped passes, all of which were converted into makes with great frequency.

“They are a good shooting team,” Long said.

Puxico buried 10 3-point shots from five different players, including four from sophomore guard Landon Burchard, who finished with a game-high 25 points.

Bernie hit seven 3-pointers, also from five different players, but only connected on eight two-point baskets while Puxico had twice that amount.

“Who knows,” Long pondered, “if we can improve in the area of turnovers and not give them so many extra possessions, maybe we would have a little bit more, I don’t know, energy, maybe a little bit more confidence.”

The Mules may get that opportunity this week.

The No. 5-seed Mules will face No. 4-seed Bloomfield (6-8) in their opening game of the event on Tuesday at 4 p.m. A Bernie victory, which definitely won’t be an easy achievement over the vastly improved Wildcats, would pit them against the winner of the Puxico opening game (Monday at 8:30 p.m.) with No. 8-seed Advance (2-12).

“We just want to put ourselves in a position to win the tournament,” Fernetti said. “If we do that, then that is the goal, obviously.”

The tournament is being played at Bloomfield High School.

The Indians also got 14 points from sophomore guard Jett Hancock against the Mules while senior Thomas Burch (10 points) and junior Mason Parsley (nine points) also contributed.

Bernie was paced by senior Jayden Robinette with 12 points while junior Cade Arnold (nine points) and freshman Cane Hobgood (six points) were also productive.

Zimmerman is back

In last month’s Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, Puxico also was the top seed in that tourney but got upended by eventual champion Malden, in part, because the Indians lost 6-foot-4 starting forward Scyler Zimmerman to a severe ankle injury.

Zimmerman played against the Mules, though it was sparingly and off the bench.

“I thought that he looked pretty good out there,” Fernetti said.

Zimmerman had his ankle wrapped and in a thick brace and approached Fernetti earlier in the day on Friday about “playing a little bit to see where he was at,” according to the coach.

Zimmerman played in three quarters and finished with a bucket in the third period.

“There was a long rebound,” Fernetti said of Zimmerman’s agility, “and he was able to run the kid down. I’d say that he is going to be good for the (SCAA) Tournament.

“We’ll just kind of ease him back in a little more.”