BLOOMFIELD -- No. 5 East Prairie found itself in a big hole in the first half against No. 4 Doniphan. After trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, the Eagles dug deep and dug themselves out of that hole.
With an adjusted game plan and an offense that caught fire at the perfect time, East Prairie put itself in position for Derez Tipler's go-ahead 3-pointer with under two minutes left in the game. Tipler's triple gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, and they held on for a 56-53 comeback win over Doniphan.
"We just couldn't finish plays it seems like," Doniphan coach Daniel Cagle said. "That's been an issue all year with us. We got up on Dora big early on, got up on Caruthersville 10 or 12 at the half and couldn't hold on, and now this game tonight. It's frustrating. The guys are frustrated. We're getting off to good starts, we're just not holding onto leads."
In the first quarter, Doniphan's Wyatt Marler was hitting everything he tossed up from beyond the arc, connecting on five 3-pointers in the game. East Prairie's defense began to face-guard Marler late in the second quarter. He didn't hit a 3 in the second half.
"For some reason, everybody shoots good against East Prairie," East Prairie coach Casey Knight said. "I don't think it's just us being lazy on defense. We watched Doniphan play Bloomfield yesterday and they didn't hit a 3. We knew (Marler) was a shooter, but he struggled. Today, he came out popping 3s."
In the paint, 6-foot, 7-inch Trent Lippoldt was getting almost everything he wanted at the rim for Doniphan in the first half, scoring 14 points through 16 minutes. In the second half, much more help was provided in the post with defenders quickly collapsing to force kickouts, and Lippoldt was limited to six points in the final two quarters.
"We knew they had size and shooting, and didn't really know what defense we were going to end up in to be able to take that away. We started out, and we weren't taking away either one, and with their size, you've got to pick and choose. (Marler) was hitting those 3s, and we decided to take him away.
"We took away the perimeter game and played as strong as we could inside, and that really was the difference in the game right there."
Then a difference maker took over. Brian Merryman couldn't miss for East Prairie on his way to a game-high 29 points. Merryman gave the Eagles' offense a much-needed boost in the second quarter to start the comeback. He started by driving along the baseline for a finish at the basket. On the next play, he scored another layup through contact. In the closing seconds of the first half, he drilled a trey to cap a 9-2 spurt to end the half and cut Doniphan's lead to five points.
In the third quarter, Merryman went back to work with another burst of seven straight points for the Eagles with a 3-pointer and two layups. Marler matched him with two layups to keep the Dons in front by a pair after three quarters. Merryman scored four more to open the fourth, but Lippoldt got back involved two layups on patient possessions in which Doniphan worked the ball all around the court before finding a good look at the basket.
"We've got so many people who can score, and (Merryman) stepped up and put the ball in the bucket for us and let us hang around," Knight said. "Yesterday, he didn't score, and tomorrow, he might not score, but our offense is designed to where it might not be one single person."
Merryman got East Prairie to the finish line, and Tipler helped the Eagles cross it. Trailing by two, Tipler stole the ball and dribbled down the court before dropping off a pass to Mason Bryars for an easy layup to tie the game, setting up Tipler's game-winning 3 to send East Prairie to the semifinals.
Hayti 66, Van Buren 50
Top-seeded Hayti will make its sixth consecutive trip to the semifinals of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
The Indians didn't make it there without a test from No. 9 Van Buren, though.
Hayti had to weather a third-quarter surge from the Bulldogs, and it did so with a resounding run. After a 20-point halftime lead was cut to eight points, the Indians rattled off a 12-0 run to put its lead right back to 20 in the fourth quarter, finishing with a 66-50 win over Van Buren.
Ivory Winters had a big day for Hayti, scoring a game-high 31 points, 19 of which came in the first half.
Van Buren's Conner Jackson had a big second half in an attempt to knock off the top seed. He scored all 16 of his points in the second half, knocking down three consecutive 3-pointers to pull Van Buren within single digits late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. Then, the shots stopped falling for the Bulldogs, and it was a costly swing in the momentum.
"We just didn't hit our shots (in the fourth quarter). We missed a lot of chip shots that we normally make. Maybe because it's inexperience on our part, but it's not nothing really that they did, it's more of what we didn't do," Van Buren coach Jacob Black said.
Nakwon Harris scored a couple of clutch baskets to start the game-clinching run for Hayti. After the lead was cut to eight points, Harris pulled down an offensive rebound and banked home a putback to get the lead up to double digits once again.
"We were just kind of getting out of character," Hayti coach Aaron Bidewell said. "We're playing right now still trying to figure out who we are, to be honest. We were really proud of senior Nakwon Harris when he kind of stepped up and really calmed the storm for us in a small run down the stretch. He got a big steal, got a big putback, got a big rebound. He kind of weathered the storm for us and we kind of fed off his energy."
After a pair of free throws from Winters had Hayti ahead by 11, Harris scored another putback after a miss. Winters scored a layup on the next possession as the Indians were breaking the Van Buren press and getting to the rim down the stretch.