BLOOMFIELD -- Doniphan put together one of the most dominant quarters of the first two rounds of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and did it as the underdog.
The sixth-seeded Dons didn't allow a field goal in the first quarter against No. 3 Bernie and led 16-2 after eight minutes. They went on to upset the previously undefeated Mules 68-51 and will play No. 2 Hayti in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Bernie will play No. 10 Bloomfield at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in a fifth-place semifinal.
"I'm proud of my guys. They did everything quite all right today and they looked good doing it. I'm very happy for them," Doniphan coach Logan Nutt said. "We came out and played very, very hard as a team. I think we were all for each other. Some hustle plays gave us a little confidence and we were able to use that momentum to keep getting extra baskets off of the press or the fastbreak. We just came out ready to play. I'm very proud of our guys for that."
In the opening frame, Bernie (9-1) made it to the foul line twice for its only two points. In between the trips, the Dons (4-6) went on a 10-point run over three minutes.
"We didn't come out ready to play and they were a whole lot more ready than we were. We were tentative and timid. When you play that way, you get what you get," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "Just a real poor performance from us."
Doniphan's Klay Barton, who led all scorers with 31 points, had back-to-back midrange jumpers during the stretch. Michael Owens added a spin move and bucket in the post, then Jake Eddington jumped a pass in the half court for an easy layup.
Cameron Kelly finished off the quarter with a spot-up 3 in the corner.
Nate Dillinger, who had 24 points for Bernie after going 10 for 19 at the foul line, scored Bernie's first field goal with the Mules' opening possession of the second quarter. Bernie had 18 points in the frame, but never got closer than 12 points.
"We knew it was going to be a grind in that second half trying to maintain a lead. We just tried to improve shot selection," Nutt said.
"We stuck to our principles. Keep playing hard, play solid defense and make a hustle play and try to limit them to one shot every possession. We were mentally prepared for Bernie. They are very, very respectable, very tough, very good team. They move the ball very well. We knew they were going to make a run. Our guys just stayed mentally tough during that run."
Doniphan was still ahead by 12 when Barton sank another corner 3 with just under a minute to go, giving the Dons the final bucket of each of the first two quarters for a six-point boost.
Doniphan extended its lead to 21 midway through the third quarter before Bernie took a timeout. The Mules didn't improve much afterward. Bernie made 15 field goals, 10 of them in the second half.
"We just shot it poorly tonight. Had a lot of wide open looks and they didn't go down for whatever reason. You have to give Doniphan a lot of credit. They outplayed us on both ends of the floor, out-hustled us. There were times we had the ball in our hands and they'd just take it away from us," Botsch said.
Barton sank five of Doniphan's six 3-pointers and had a consistent night with at least five points in every quarter. Wyatt Marler added 11 points while Eddington and Trent Lippoldt each had 10.