DEXTER -- Nate Dillinger and his fellow seniors will cherish their Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament championship.
The third-seeded Bernie Mules posted their second-straight upset, beating top-seeded Dexter 53-50 Friday night to win their first conference tournament championship since 2015.
The Mules knocked off second-seeded Advance 63-42 in Thursday's semifinal.
Dillinger, who scored a game-high 20 points in the final, and his classmates weren't apart of that 2015 team.
"We haven't won a county championship since the sixth grade," Dillinger said. "This is the first time my class has been to a championship game since seventh grade. It means a lot. We work hard every day."
Dillinger was in the middle of the action in a topsy-turvy fourth quarter when the Mules never trailed but held off multiple comeback attempts by Dexter, which had an 11-game win streak snapped.
Dillinger scored seven points in the period, including making 3 of 4 free throws during a stretch where the Bearcats were issued a technical foul. Officials called a foul on Seth Rogers while he and multiple players were scrambling for a loose ball midway through the fourth quarter. Rogers was then assessed a technical.
Blake Harty, who finished with 14 points, missed the front end of a one-and-one for the initial foul, but Dillinger made both free throws for the technical. On the ensuing possession, the Bearcats were called for another foul, and Dillinger split two foul shots for a 46-38 lead.
Harty added two more free throws to stretch the Mules' advantage to 48-38.
The Bearcats (12-6) came back with six straight points, capped by a 3-pointer by Alan Pippins.
The remainder of the game's scoring came from the free-throw line. Dexter continued to apply the pressure with Gabe Jackson going 6 for 6 from the line in the game's final 1:42.
"Gabe hit some big free throws down the stretch," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "Gabe has improved his free-throw shooting this year. He is shooting over 70 percent. He has practiced them more and it is paying off for him."
Bernie (15-5) gave the Bearcats hope, making only 3 of 6 free throws until Dillinger made two with 7.3 seconds left to seemingly secure the win.
Overall, Bernie outscored the Bearcats 16-12 at the foul line, while outshooting them 25-15.
The Mules survived a scare at the end, though. Nate Gargas made a 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left, but the shot was waved off because Dexter had called a timeout right before the shot left his hand.
"I saw the official call the timeout. Then of course the thing splashed in," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh.' I'm sure Josh (Dowdy) wishes he had that one back, but I'm sure glad he called it."
Dowdy said, "Once I saw Bernie sprint back after the made free throw, I planned to call a timeout at half court to set up a play. I hate it for Nate since that was his first 3-pointer of the year and I took that away from him and our team. I will have to live with it."
The Bearcats had one last chance to tie the game, but they missed a 3-point try at the buzzer.
"(This was) really special for the kids," Botsch said. "I'm proud of them. They work so hard. Got great, great kids. I couldn't ask for better players to coach. It was a great atmosphere. We had a ton of people here tonight that came out and supported us."
The first quarter was nip-and-tuck with neither team leading by more than two points.
Gavin Brown gave the Mules a 12-10 lead that stood until the start of the second where Dillinger opened the period with three straight 3-pointers. His second 3-pointer gave the Mules an 18-10 lead. Gargas' baseline jumper interrupted Dillinger's personal run, but the latter sank another 3 for a 21-12 advantage.
"Nate's kind of been our catalyst all year," Botsch said. "I mean he's one of those guys you can depend on to score some buckets for you. I thought Blake Harty did a pretty good job handling the ball for us. At times we don't handle the ball real well under pressure. I thought he did a really good job of that tonight."
The Bearcats closed their deficit to four points on three occasions before halftime. Dawson Kasting's three-point play sliced it to 21-17, his putback cut it to 23-19 and Clay Mullins' two free throws trimmed it to 25-21.
Michael Suiter finished on a pass from Dillinger, and Harty made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Mules a 28-21 halftime lead.
Bernie maintained its lead throughout the third quarter, although the Bearcats cut it to 32-30 on a 3-pointer by Rogers. The Mules extended their lead to six, as Dexter was in foul trouble. Mullins was called for his fourth foul and Rogers his third during that stretch.
Both players fouled out in the fourth quarter.
"The game came down to more than foul trouble," Dowdy said. "We could easily point to Clay, Seth and Ben (Sindle who was out with an injury) on the bench, but it's much bigger than that. It was more about 10 guys out on the floor throwing punches at one another. We fought back and I was proud of our boys for doing so.
"We just made too many mistakes throughout the course of the game. Coach Botsch understands our personnel and made it difficult on us like any good coach. We tried to counter but just didn't do enough to get the victory."
Pippins kept the Bearcats afloat with a 3-pointer that sliced their deficit to 36-33, but Suiter scored inside for a 38-33 lead by quarter's end.
The second of Pippins' three 3-pointers cut the Mules' lead to 39-37 before they built a 10-point advantage following Dexter's technical foul.
Mullins paced Dexter with 15 points, and Jackson finished with 14.
"Everybody coming and playing Dexter knows you have to pay attention to Gabe Jackson. It's no secret," Botsch said. "I thought our kids battled and did a good job of giving help and still recovering enough because they're not a one-man army out there. They've got a lot of nice players and you have to get out and cover them and do your job."
Jackson made only four field goals with three coming in the first quarter.
"It takes a lot of focus for our kids and toughness as well because he's a beast in there," Botsch said. "It took a lot of work trying to keep him from getting touches because if he gets it in there, he not only scores well, he distributes the ball well. He'a good passer and he's got soft touch. He's got great hands. He's a handful, no doubt."
More than half of Bernie's points came from interior players, and Harty scored 14 of the guards' 23 points.
"They really limited our shooters' touches. (Hunter) Slavings and (Weston) Zoll didn't get a lot of touches tonight," Botsch said. "Credit their defense. (Coach Dowdy) does a great job with them. Fortunately, we were able to get enough buckets and free throws and hold on for the win."
All-tournament team
Peyton Bell, Bloomfield; Nate Dillinger, Bernie; Michael Hood, Advance; Gabe Jackson, Dexter; Dawson Kasting, Dexter; Dalton King, Puxico; Clay Mullins, Dexter; Alan Pippins, Dexter; Michael Suiter, Bernie; Armani Vermillion, Advance; Levi Woods, Puxico; Weston Zoll, Bernie.
THIRD PLACE
Fourteen minutes, 17 seconds. That's how many minutes the second-seeded Advance Hornets needed Friday to surpass their point total from the previous night in the semifinals of the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament.
A night after losing 63-42 to third-seeded Bernie, the Hornets bounced back to beat the fourth-seeded Puxico Indians 92-69 to win the tournament's third-place game.
"I knew they weren't going to shoot as poorly as they did last night," Puxico coach Nathan Martin said. "I knew they were going to get a lot of shots up throughout the day and in shoot-around this morning, but I didn't expect them to explode for 90."