BLOOMFIELD -- A little "Christmas dinner" fatigue wasn't enough to keep Doniphan's depth down.
With help from some extra bodies in the second half, the No. 6 Dons successfully pressed No. 11 Puxico and turned a five point halftime deficit into a 64-51 win in the first round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
"We got a little tired. We had a little Christmas dinner going on I think. But our depth definitely helped us overcome that, being able to throw three or four new guys, fresh legs out there definitely helped us," Doniphan coach Logan Nutt said. "Our depth is strong. We have a number of guys who are ready to go at all times. They've been preparing throughout the past couple of weeks and have been improving every day. We had some guys come off the bench and help us win this game. I'm very proud of them."
Down seven in the final minute of the first half, Doniphan's Klay Barton and Wyatt Marler trapped near half court and Barton came up with the steal.
In the 2-on-1 break, Barton drove right and threw a perfect behind the back bounce pass to Marler for an easy layup as time expired. Barton and Marler led Doniphan (3-6) with 18 and 14 points, respectively.
The Dons opened the second half with a six point run to take the lead for the first time since it was 8-7. Trent Lippoldt, who had 11 points, scored back to back buckets, the second of which was a catch and shoot on an inbounds play to take the lead.s
Puxico's Levi Woods countered with a 3, and Marler answered with a 3 five seconds later that put Doniphan ahead for good.
"We played 2 1/2 quarters of good basketball and couldn't close the deal on them," Puxico coach Nathan Martin said.
The Dons were still ahead by just three points early in the fourth quarter when their pressure created three consecutive turnovers for three consecutive buckets by Barton.
"We got rattled and just threw the ball away. We were making lob passes and weren't making crisp passes," Martin said. "If you get the ball in the middle (against the zone trap), everyone has to collapse and you've got guys running down the sides. We tried to do too much one-on-one instead of moving the ball back and forth."
Barton got easy layups after jumping a pass in the half court for the first two, then sank a mid-range jumper off an inbounds pass for the third that gave Doniphan the first double-digit lead of the game.
"It is great for our confidence to be able to do that. We had some guys who hadn't played the whole game in Jared Dutton and Jordan Leroux who came off the bench. They provided energy for us, they provided leadership, they were very vocal out there and they got us going. Just being able to see us get the ball in the hole a few times it really helped us with some confidence and helped us get into a rhythm."
Following a 12 point run early in the fourth quarter, Doniphan led by as much as 15 with 5 minutes left when Puxico (3-6) tried ramping up its own pressure to create some turnovers and maybe a run of its own. Martin's plan worked at first. Dalton King got a runout and Matt Bollinger added a quick basket to get the lead back to 10 points.
With the Dons in the bonus, Puxico didn't get any closer.
"We got into that press for a few possessions and we had some success," Martin said. "We were trying to get them on their heels, get some pressure on them and see if we could force them into some turnovers."
Levi Woods led the Indians with 20 points. The senior point guard made three of the team's four 3-pointers. He had eight points in the first quarter as the Indians took a five point lead after the first eight minutes. Bollinger balanced the offense in the post and finished with 17 points.
"I think (Puxico) did a good job of getting us out of our game," Nutt said. "We didn't get much of an offensive rhythm. I think that messed with us mentally a little bit. We finally got over that hump and were able to settle down and take better shots throughout the game and speed them up a little bit."