SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Dexter Bearcats picked their poison Friday night.
The fourth-seeded Cape Central Tigers made seven 3-pointers and beat the seventh-seeded Bearcats 54-39 in the third-place game of the SEMO Conference Tournament at the Sikeston Field House.
Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said that he was more concerned by what the Tigers do inside than by their perimeter shooting.
"I don't want to say we're going to give it to them," Dowdy said of the Tigers' 3-point shooting, "but at the same time if we're going to go out there and guard them -- we know their athleticism, the way they bounce the ball around -- they can get to the rim on us."
Cape Central coach Drew Church doesn't like relying on 3-point shooting.
"We don't like to shoot a lot of 3-pointers because it's not a real high percentage shot," Church said, "but when you make a 3, it makes everything a little bit easier. That's one thing we haven't had at Cape in a long time is shooters."
Cape Central (5-1) nailed four 3-pointers in the first quarter where it built an 18-11 lead. Caleb Oswarld, who scored a game-high 21 points, and Tyrus Reddin made two each. Ben Sindle sank two of his team-high four 3-pointers in the first quarter. Sindle finished with 12 points.
The Tigers extended their lead to 13 points (26-13) on a 3-pointer by Oswald near the 6-minute mark of the second quarter, but Dexter scored seven of the next eights point to close within 27-20 at halftime.
Gabe Jackson scored six of his team-high 15 points in the second.
Oswald nailed another 3-pointer to start the second half and sparked a 7-0 run to push the Tigers' lead to 34-20. His final 3-pointer extended Central's lead to a then game-high 15 points (39-24).
"They start the second half with a 3 in the corner and again if we're going to sag off and they have the ability to shoot it, they're going to knock it down, and they did that," Dowdy said. "We have to count on some them not going down early."
Sindle's fourth 3-pointer helped Dexter claw back to 11 points of the lead (41-30) by the end of the half.
The Bearcats (1-4) closed to within six points twice in the fourth quarter. Clay Mullins' basket cut their deficit to 43-37 and Jackson's putback cut it to 45-37.
However, Dexter didn't score again, as the Tigers closed the game with a 10-0 run that included a pair of dunks by Austin Parker.
The Tigers' Chauncey Hughes scored five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Dowdy liked the way his team responded after the loss.
"We hate to lose. Who doesn't?" Dowdy said. "Four or five years ago after we got beat by 35 points, there was some laughing going on in the locker room. These kids were upset, and that's a good place to be for us. I'm glad they're upset. That's a good thing."
The Bearcats will face Jackson in a SEMO Conference regular-season matchup Tuesday. Tipoff for the varsity game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Jackson High School.