BLOOMFIELD -- Dushawn Butler scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half Tuesday to help fourth-seeded Malden build a nine-point halftime lead, and the Green Wave used a trio of runs in the second half to beat the 13th-seeded Twin Rivers Royals 60-39 in a first-round matchup in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Butler scored five points, and Broderick Annesser scored four of his 14 in the first quarter, propelling the Green Wave to a 17-12 lead by the start of the second period.
Butler scored Malden's first 11 points of the second quarter, including three straight 3-pointers that gave the Green Wave a 28-14 lead.
However, the Royals, who continually attacked the heart of the Malden defense, rallied to trail only 30-21 at halftime.
Hayden Thomas scored six of his team-high 13 points to help the Royals climb to within seven points (34-27) of the lead, but Malden responded with a 10-0 run and led 44-29 after three quarters.
Five different Malden players scored during the momentum-shifting rally.
"We got some steals and we were able to get into transition, which helps our offense," Malden coach Andrew Halford said. "We were real stagnant on offense for most the night, just standing around."
Annesser was in the middle of two Green Wave runs in the fourth quarter. His layup ignited an 8-0 run that extended their lead to 54-34. The run also featured two layups by Donterrian Triplett.
Annesser scored all three baskets of a 6-0 run to extended Malden's lead to 60-35.
The Green Wave (7-1) will face No. 5 East Prairie in a semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. East Prairie beat No. 12 Van Buren 67-49 in the first round.
"Not super pleased with the game," Halford said. "Like I said, very sloppy, too many turnovers. We didn't rebound it well enough. We're going to have our hands full against East Prairie."
Bernie 70, Gideon 30
The third-seeded Mules used a balanced attack and periods of solid defense Tuesday to beat 14th-seeded Gideon in a first-round matchup.
Four Bernie players scored in double figures and another finished a field goal short of achieving the same feat.
Michael Suiter scored a game-high 18 points for the Mules, who improved to 9-0. Nate Dillinger and Hunter Slavings added 14 each. Josh Ellenburg scored 13 and Gavin Brown finished with eight.
"I think we're capable offensively of playing quite a bit better than what we did," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "But give them some credit, they came out on us and made us miss some shots."
Ellenburg scored eight points, and Suiter had six in the first quarter where the Mules built a 22-12 lead.
Bernie held the Bulldogs to four second-quarter points, and Dillinger scored six to help Bernie extend its lead to 34-16 at halftime.
Six different Mules scored in the third quarter where they held a 22-7 advantage to push their lead to 56-23 by the start of the final quarter.
Bernie closed the third on a 10-0 run and pushed that streak to 22-0 before Tristin Martin's jumper with 2:10 to play snapped Gideon's dry spell.
"I thought we came out and did OK defensively," Botsch said. "I thought we were kind of stagnant intensity-wise. In the second half, we had some moments I thought we played pretty well.
"If we hope to move on ... in this tournament, we're going to have to play better than we did today, I think our kids are capable of playing better."
The Mules will face Doniphan at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
East Prairie 67,
Van Buren 49
The fifth-seeded Eagles never trailed in their first-round victory over 12th-seeded Van Buren.
Marcus Bryars and Luke Marcum each made 3-pointers, helping the Eagles take a 12-3 lead, and East Prairie carried a 16-9 lead into the second quarter.
Bryars, who scored nine of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, scored six more points in the second quarter as did Marcum to push the Eagles' lead to 41-27 by halftime. Seven different East Prairie players scored in the second quarter where the fifth seed used an 11-0 run to pull ahead by as many as 22 points (41-19).
Hayden Towner scored six of his team-high 16 points, and Conner Jackson had six of his 13 in the third quarter where Van Buren held a 15-14 scoring advantage. Jackson's second 3-pointer of the quarter pulled the Bulldogs within eight points (47-39), but East Prairie closed the quarter with an 8-3 run to take a 55-42 lead into the final period.
The Eagles opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run to take control. Derez Tipler scored four of his 10 points in the fourth to lead East Prairie.
Dexter 82, Richland 25
Gabe Jackson scored a game-high 20 points for top-seeded Dexter in the Bearcats' rout of No. 16 Richland.
Alan Pippins added 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Joe Rice scored 11 points, and Dawson Kasting had 10.
Hunter Walker led Richland with seven points.
Ben Sindle made all of three his 3-pointers in the first quarter during a stretch in which the Bearcats extended a 6-2 lead to 17-2. They led 23-6 after one period.
Pippins sank all of his 3-pointers in the second quarter, and the Bearcats led 52-13 at halftime. They opened the quarter with a 23-3 run.
Jackson and Rice fueled the Bearcats' third-quarter attack. Jackson scored 10 of their 19 third-quarter points, and Rice had seven to help Dexter take a 71-15 lead into the final quarter.
Hayti 86, Holcomb 35
Darius Jones scored a game-high 25 points to lead a balanced Hayti offense.
Kobe Cooper added 16 points, Nakwon Harris 11, Ivory Winters 11 and Chrivonte Moore 10 joined Jones in double figures.
Gabe Roso paced Holcomb with 15 points.
Hayti held quarter leads of 22-12, 44-18 and 65-27.
The Indians will face the winner of the Bloomfield at 7 p.m. Wednesday.