DEXTER, Mo. -- The top-seeded Dexter Bearcats and third-seeded Bernie Mules encountered little resistance in the first round of the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament.
The Bearcats rolled past eighth-seeded Bell City 93-30, and the Mules beat sixth-seeded Woodland 83-38 Monday at the Bearcat Event Center.
The coaches took different approaches in leading their teams into Thursday's semifinal round.
The Bearcats (11-5) sent out a starting lineup consisting of players who normally come off the bench.
"We feel like we're a true team. We come to practice everyday. Everyone goes through the same drills and the same plays and just guts it out everyday. We just thought it was a nice gesture to show our typical bench guys that we value them," Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said. "... They came in and played hard and got us off to a great start."
Bernie coach Brad Botsch sent out his typical starters, but like the Bearcats, Bernie's reserves played a major role.
"We had pretty balanced scoring overall," Botsch said of his squad that improved to 13-5. "It was good to see some guys get into the scoring column and back into their form. Hopefully, we'll continue to do that for the rest of the tournament."
Ten different Dexter players scored least four points, and seven different Mules tallied at least three.
Evan Smith gave Bell City a quick 3-0 lead, but the Bearcats stormed back with a 17-0 run behind Joe Rice, Nate Gargas, Alan Pippins, Braxton Foster and Ethan Kincy.
Pippins, who made four first-quarter 3-pointers and scored all 13 of his points in the opening period, scored seven during that stretch, Kincy scored on a putback, Gargas drove the baseline for two points, Rice had a steal and a layup, and Miller capped the rally with a midrange jumper and a putback.
Baskets by Luke Nichols and Jacob Byford sliced the Bearcats' lead to 17-7, but Pippins and Rice helped extend their lead to 31-14 after one quarter.
Pippins sank two more 3-pointers, and Rice scored seven to comprise the Bearcats' 14-7 quarter-closing run. Rice scored 10 of his 13 points in the opening quarter.
Dexter's regular starters entered the game for the first time 57 seconds into the second quarter and fueled a 30-4 run to extended the Bearcats' lead to 61-18 at halftime.
Clay Mullins scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second.
"It's almost like a caged animal. You leave (the starters) over there and let them get hungry," Dowdy said. "They came in and moved the ball around well and hit the open man, and we were able to get some easy baskets."
Gabe Jackson scored eight of his 14 points in the third quarter, including a dunk during a 6-0 second-half opening run.
The Bearcats outscored Bell City 32-11 in the second half, including 17-2 in the fourth quarter when the clock ran continuously because of the 30-point mercy rule.
Nate Stone paced Bell City with nine points.
The Bearcats, who have won 10 straight, will face either No. 4 Puxico or No. 5 Bloomfield in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday. Puxico and Bloomfield are scheduled to meet in a first-round matchup at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The Mules' starters accounted for 20 of their 24 first-quarter points.
Nate Dillinger scored nine of his 15 points in the first quarter, Michael Suiter had six of his 18 and Hunter Slavings tallied five of his six, helping the Mules take a 24-14 lead into the second quarter.
Balanced scoring only told part of the story behind Bernie's victory.
"We got some turnovers early, kind of got us going," Botsch said. "We wanted to come out and create some energy. ... Sometimes, you get in these early round games and not have much energy. We wanted make sure to get out there and do that and set the tone, and the kids did a pretty good job of doing that in the first half."
Eleven of Bernie's first-quarter points came off turnovers, including six straight to extended the Mules' lead from 18-10 to 24-10. Woodland didn't get the ball past half court during that stretch.
The Mules used runs of 8-0 and 16-0 to push their lead to 29 points (50-21) by halftime.
Suiter and reserve Weston Zoll scored six points each in the second. Zoll scored a game-high 23 points, accounting for all but nine scored by reserves.
Connor Goodwin, who was held scoreless in the first half, paced Woodland with 12 points, and Karson Skinner scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
The Mules will face the winner of the Advance-Richland matchup in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. No. 2 Advance is scheduled to meet No. 7 Richland in the first round at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.