DEXTER -- The Bernie Mules finished what they couldn't earlier this month.
The Advance Hornets, the top-ranked team in the Class 1 coaches poll, needed a half-court buzzer beater to force overtime to win at Bernie on Jan. 5.
In the rematch, the third-seeded Mules beat the second-seeded Hornets 63-42 in the semifinals of the Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament on Thursday night at the Bearcat Event Center.
This time, the Mules left little doubt on who would win the right to face the top-seeded Dexter Bearcats in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. tonight. They outscored Advance 20-8 in the fourth quarter to push their record to 14-5.
"I thought our kids came out and had a really good second half," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "We shot it well in the second half, didn't turn it over. We knew limiting turnovers were going to be important. We only had four in the second half. That's a credit to our kids doing a better job and having more poise.
"It's a good win for us," Botsch continued. "We just want to continue to play well and win one more this week."
The Hornets, who have lost twice in their past four games, suffered through another night of cold shooting.
"We just didn't hit shots, and they hit a lot of good shots. The (Weston) Zoll kid hit several in the corner. ... I thought they all shot pretty good," Advance coach Bubba Wheetley said. "They just outplayed us. They beat us, bottom line. In every facet of the game, they beat us."
The Hornets (13-5) trailed for most of the game. They led 6-4 in the first quarter and 9-8 entering the second. Armani Vermillion, who paced Advance with 15 points, hit 3-pointers, giving the Hornets those leads.
Bernie tied the score 14 seconds into the second quarter on a free throw by Zoll and went ahead to stay on Michael Suiter's layup.
Bernie extended its lead to as many as five points in the second quarter, but the Hornets rallied to slice it to one on Hunter Curtis' 3-pointer in the final minute of the half. Hunter Slavings followed with a 3-pointer of his own, and the Mules took a 24-20 lead into halftime.
The Hornets sliced their deficit to two on three occasions in the second, 14-12 on a 3-pointer by Michael Hood and 16-14 on a steal and layup by Hood, who finished with 14 points. Curtis' first 3-pointer cut Bernie's lead to 19-17.
Advance again cut its deficit to one in the third quarter.
The Mules pushed their lead to 30-23 when Zoll capped a quick 5-0 run with the second of his three 3-pointers. Carson Miles ended a 6-0 run when he finished on a post move to slice their lead to 30-29.
Bernie responded by scoring 13 of the next 18 points and took a 43-34 lead into the final quarter. Zoll, who finished with 16 points, capped an 8-0 run that pushed its lead to 38-29.
Nate Dillinger opened the fourth quarter with the third of his three 3-pointers to extend the Mules' lead to 46-34, and Advance never climbed within single digits of the lead again.
"Nate had a good second half," Botsch said. "Mike (Suiter) and Nate together do a pretty good job rebounding overall. First half, we thought they got too many offensive rebounds and second chances."
Dillinger scored a game-high 23 points with 11 coming in the fourth quarter. Suiter finished with nine.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," Wheetley said of his team's chances of returning to the state championship game for a second-straight year. "Hopefully, maybe it'll wake them up. I don't know. We've got two and one-half weeks, three weeks here. You better make up your minds."