BERNIE -- Levi Woods wouldn't let the Puxico Indians go down without a fight.
Woods scored eight of the Indians' final 10 points Saturday to lead fourth-seeded Puxico to a 65-62 victory over fifth-seeded Senath-Hornersville in the first round of the MSHAA Class 2 District 1 tournament.
"Levi wasn't going to let us lose that ballgame," Puxico coach Nathan Martin said. "As hard as he's worked the last four years -- and I'm not saying anything about our other players, they wanted to win that game just as bad -- Levi kind of put it on his shoulders to lead the charge."
The Indians will face top-seeded Bernie in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Mules routed eighth-seeded Holcomb 83-35 earlier Saturday.
The other semifinal will pit second-seeded Hayti against third-seeded South Pemiscot, which will tip off around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Indians trailed by as many as five points in the fourth quarter when Blaze Mears' 3-pointer and floater gave the Lions a 58-53 lead with less than six minutes left.
Matt Bollinger, who finished with 16 points, made two free throws to cut the Lions' lead to two, and Brady Hart made two foul shots to tie the score at 55-all.
The Lions struck back when Diego Fernandez, who scored a team-high 20 points, made a 3-pointer.
Woods, who finished with a game-high 23 points, made two free throws with 2:45 to go, but the Lions' Joaquin Maldonado, who tallied 18 points in all, scored on an inbounds play for a 60-57 lead.
Woods made two more free throws to cut the Indians' deficit to one with 1:51 left.
The Lions passed the ball around the perimeter and ran about a minute off the clock.
Dalton King then deflected the ball off a Senath-Hornersville player and out of bounds for a turnover.
Woods was fouled with 41.7 seconds left and made both free throws for a 61-60 lead, the Indians' first lead since 48-46 early in the fourth.
Mears, who finished with 10 points, attempted a floater with 16.7 seconds left but missed. Puxico gained possession on a jump ball.
Woods made two free throws with 15 seconds left, and Braiden Brown clinched the win with a steal and two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining.
"I was very pleased with how they fought," Martin said. "They showed some grit at the end. We were down five in the fourth at one point. We came back, stayed patient (and) hit our free throws at the end, and we pulled it out."
Early foul trouble caught up with the Lions in the fourth quarter when three players fouled out.
"It's a killer when you lose three of your five starters," Senath-Hornersville coach Corbin Clark said. "You've got to go up against their starting five at the end. It's a lot to ask of your younger guys. We're not very deep with older kids. We've only been playing six upperclassmen, so we had to go to younger kids."
The Indians led 20-17 after one quarter. Senath-Hornersville led by as many as three points early, and the Indians led by as many as five.
Puxico pulled ahead by as many as 33-24 in the second quarter and led 37-31 at halftime.
The Indians extended their lead to 44-33 early in the third, but Senath-Hornersville scored 11 straight points to tie the score at 44.
Bollinger scored on a post move to give the Indians a 46-44 lead by the start of the fourth.
"We came out playing man-to-man, which we've been doing a good job of lately," Clark said, "but they really got us in a lot foul trouble early, which had a big impact on the game later. So, we switched to kind of a half-court trap and a zone, and I felt like that really got us back in the game. (It) actually put us over the top and gave us a chance to win. Our kids did a good job of executing and gave us a chance at the end."
South Pemiscot 51, Bloomfield 46
The third-seeded Bulldogs made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 67 seconds to hold off sixth-seeded Bloomfield.
The Wildcats trailed 39-29 entering the fourth quarter, but they cut their deficit to 39-37 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Michael Phillips and Peyton Bell with 5:35 to play.
The Bulldogs shot out to a 12-6 lead, as the first six field goals of the game were 3-pointers. They led 21-12 after one quarter and 31-23 at halftime.
The teams combined for 17 3-pointers with the Bulldogs making a game-high nine.
Kevin Burton scored a game-high 17 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead South Pemiscot.
Bell paced Bloomfield with 16 points. Travis McCullough and Phillips made two 3-pointers each.
Bernie 83, Holcomb 35
Nate Dillinger led a balanced attack, as the top-seeded Mules rolled past Holcomb and into the semifinals.
Ten Bernie players scored at least one point with Dillinger scoring a game-high 23, including three 3-pointers. Josh Ellenburg added 11 points, and Gavin Brown and Michael Suiter had 10 each.
Gabe Roso and Noah Hobbs paced Holcomb with 11 points each.
The Mules led 30-8 after one quarter, 53-13 at halftime and 79-25 after three quarters.
Hayti 78, Campbell 38
Darius Jones scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, and second-seeded Hayti took control from the opening tip.
The Indians led 27-8 after one quarter, 48-21 after two and 66-29 after three.
Ivory Winters added 16 points, and Kobe Cooper scored 14 for Hayti.
Blake Fowler paced Campbell with 12 points.