BERNIE -- Nate Dillinger answered the call.
The senior picked up the slack on a cold shooting night and helped spark the Bernie Mules to a 67-32 Stoddard County Activities Association victory over Woodland on Tuesday night.
Dillinger scored a game-high 26 points.
"Shooters weren't very on tonight, so I had to make sure I got rebounds, make sure everyone's getting good flow (and) make sure no one's taking off possessions," Dillinger said.
Sophomore point guard Blake Harty followed in the upperclassman's footsteps, scoring 22 points, including 13 in the pivotal second quarter.
"I thought Nate had a good game, and I thought (Harty) played really well tonight," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "Some of our other guys have been playing well (but Weston) Zoll and (Hunter) Slavings didn't shoot as well. (Michael) Suiter had a few buckets, but he didn't have as big a night as he's capable. Sometimes, you're going to have that. It's good to have your teammates pick you up."
Neither team shot well early with the Cardinals dictating a slower tempo and holding an 11-10 lead after one quarter.
"I felt like we were overlooking them a little bit. We just started out slow," Dillinger said. "As the game went on, we figured out we had to turn it up a little bit."
Dillinger's putback following a Woodland turnover gave the Mules the biggest lead (10-6) by either team to that point, but Zach Cureton nailed a 3-pointer and Drake Holweg scored on a fastbreak to give the Cardinals a one-point lead after one quarter.
"I think they came out and were running a good offense early." Bosch said of Woodland. "We didn't hit shots early. Neither team was really scoring much.
"We decided to change a few things up and start switching defenses some. (We) started creating turnovers and getting some easier chances. It kind of got our offense going just a little bit."
Bernie (5-0, 1-0 SCAA) opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run to pull ahead 23-13.
The Cardinals (2-3, 0-1) kept Bernie's lead to around 10 points over the next 3 minutes 30 seconds, but Harty nailed a 3-pointer, and Weston Comstock scored on a putback following a steal by Dillinger to give the Mules a 36-22 halftime lead.
Dillinger scored nine second-quarter points and tallied eight more in the third where the Mules continued to pour it on, outscoring Woodland 17-2 to take a 53-24 lead into the fourth.
Tyler Massa, who paced Woodland with 11 points, scored both of Woodland's points in the third.
Bernie extended its lead to 30 points in the fourth and maintained it for most of the quarter. The running clock kicks in when a team leads by 30 in the fourth quarter.
The Mules will continues SCAA play with a home game against Bell City on Friday night. Bell City doesn't have a junior varsity team, so the varsity game will start at 6 p.m.