BLOOMFIELD -- The top-seeded Dexter Bearcats held on by the skin of their teeth Thursday night.
Malden's Dashawn Butler made a pair of 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds as the Green Wave nearly overcame a seven-point deficit but fell short as the Bearcats won 44-43 in the semifinals of the 61st Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
"We did about everything possible to lose a basketball game and got outplayed in a number of ways," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "We didn't execute a gameplan like we have all year. That's what I'm most disappointed in."
The Bearcats (5-5) will meet second-seeded Hayti in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Friday in a rematch of last year's final that Dexter won 57-34 as the No. 2 seed. Making its third straight finals appearance, Dexter will attempt to become the first top seed to win the title since 2013 and earn an 11th Bloomfield crown.
"In the end, we did fight. We did work hard in a lot of spots," Dowdy said. Malden worked even harder. I tip my hat to (Malden) Coach (Andrew) Halford, his staff and his team. They really wanted to play in a championship final. We're very fortunate to survive and advance."
Malden (8-2) will face Doniphan for third place at 7 p.m. Friday.
Butler made a 3-pointer from the right corner to cut the Bearcats' lead to 44-40 with 10.9 seconds left. Dexter had a chance to clinch the win at the free-throw line but Alan Pippins missed both free throws.
Butler, who scored a game-high 23 points including 14 in the fourth quarter, sank a 28-footer with 0.8 seconds remaining.
The Bearcats called a timeout to make sure they properly executed the inbounds play. They heaved the ball to mid-court, and time ran out as both teams scrambled for the loose ball.
"We missed a bunch of free throws," Dowdy said of his team's 10-of-17 showing a the foul line. "We didn't pick up in transition their best player (Butler). There's no telling how many points he had. Just a lot of mental mistakes that I didn't anticipate tonight, but again I'm very proud that we're moving on."
The Bearcats led until Butler's 3-pointer with 4:07 to play gave Malden a 35-34 lead.
Clay Mullins followed with a driving layup to put Dexter ahead and trigger a 10-2 run.
"What stinks was he hit that 3 in the corner, and they came right back and took the lead on a layup," Halford said. "In a tight game like that, you take the lead on a big play like that, you've got to find a way to keep the lead. You can't give it right back up the next possession."
Gabe Jackson scored on a putback with 3:13 to play, and the Malden bench was assessed a technical foul. While Ben Sindle missed both free throws for the technical, Jackson found Seth Rogers streaking toward the basket for a layup to extend Dexter's lead to 40-35.
Butler converted a half-court pass into a layup to snap the Bearcats' 6-0 spurt with 56.7 seconds left.
Dexter caught another break a few seconds later. Malden was whistled for an intentional foul, and Mullins made one of two free throws. Mullins was fouled a few seconds later, as the Bearcats maintained possession. He made both free throws for a 43-37 lead with 36.1 seconds remaining.
Rogers made one of two free throws with 18.5 seconds left for the Bearcats' final points.
The Bearcats held a 12-9 lead after a nip-and-tuck first quarter and opened the second period with an 8-0 run to go ahead 20-9.
"We didn't rebound real well at either end of the floor, and they made that difficult for us," Halford said. "It was tough to score. They made things extremely hard on both ends of the floor. It was tough for us to get some good looks."
The Green Wave closed the first half with their own 8-0 run, spurred by their fastbreak. Broddric Annesser and Malcom McBride scored two buckets apiece, slicing Dexter's lead to 20-17 by halftime.
Jackson, who paced Dexter with 18 points, scored 10 in the third quarter, and the Bearcats expanded their lead to 32-27 by the start of the fourth. Butler and Chience Booker each made 3-pointers in the third to help Malden keep pace.
"I thought we played extremely hard and competed well," Halford said. "(We) just did some small things wrong. You just hope you do enough things right to overcome the few things you do wrong."