BLOOMFIELD -- Twin Rivers junior Brent Trout hadn't scored a point all night, but he got open under the basket in the closing seconds to send the sixth-seeded Royals into the championship semifinals of the 62nd Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Trout scored the game-winner with two seconds on the clock, and the Royals upset two-time defending tournament champion Dexter 53-52 in the championship quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Bearcats, who trailed by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter, fought back and took their first lead since 14-13 on a pair of free throws by Seth Rogers with 8.4 seconds left.
Twin Rivers' Zach Hargraves took the ensuing inbounds pass and drove the floor before pulling up near the free throw line and finding Trout open along the baseline.
"I told the kids if anybody asked, tell them it's just like we drew it up," Twin Rivers coach Seth McBroom joked after the game. "Sometimes in situations like that, you kind of anticipate them doing one kind of defense. They kind of slumped off us and messed our play up a little bit. Eight seconds is a long amount of time in a situation like that. Zach made a great play and saw the open guy, and it worked out."
Dexter coach Lloyd Hyten said his seniors were feeling low after the loss because their bid for a third straight title ended.
"We knew that they would be taking the ball and driving to the hole," Hyten said. "The guy was open because the penetrator guy got past his defensive guy. Our big guy had to stop him and left his man open, and the kid made a good pass, and they scored."
The Royals stretched their win streak to five games and improved to 8-2 on the season. They will face second-seeded Bernie in the championship semifinals 8:30 p.m. Friday. Bernie beat seventh-seeded Kennett 52-47 earlier Thursday night. Dexter (4-5) will meet Kennett in a fifth-place semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
"I was proud of the effort," Hyten said of his players. "That was a good team that beat us. We could've folded a few times."
Garrett Henson and Rogers led the Bearcats' fourth-quarter charge. Rogers scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth, and Henson had seven of his 16 in the final period.
The Bearcats cut Twin Rivers' lead to two (35-33) on a basket by Rogers to open the quarter, but Twin Rivers extended its lead to eight (45-37) on a 3-pointer by Avery Jackson midway through the period.
Dexter climbed within 45-44 thanks to a pair of baskets by Henson and a driving layup by Eric Hahn.
Hayden Thomas, who finished with a game-high 19 points, made two free throws with 1:14 to play to give the Royals a 47-44 lead, but Rogers made a 3-pointer near the one-minute mark to tie the score.
Hargraves, who finished with 13 points, made two free throws with 44.1 seconds left, but the Bearcats fed the ball inside to Henson who passed to Rogers on the perimeter. Rogers knocked down the 3-pointer for a 50-49 lead with 35 seconds left.
Thomas made two more free throws with 13.4 seconds left to give the Royals a 51-50 lead.
"It's a tough loss," Hyten said. "I thought the effort was not quite as good as it has been. Just inconsistent on our shooting. Seemed like we kind of stood around a little bit, especially the first half. We passed the ball around, didn't get aggressive. The second half, we started taking it into Garrett Henson. He was having his way in there. We should've done that the whole game."
The Bearcats struggled at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, making only five of 11 foul shots.
"I harp on them all the time about free throws," Hyten said. "We were less than 50 percent (seven of 15). They shot about 80 percent, I guess (eight of nine). At one time, we were four for nine on free throws and you lose a game by one point ... We stress free throws and stress and stress and stress. It didn't seem to help."
The lead changed hands three times and the score was tied on two occasions in a back-and-fourth first quarter. The Bearcats held leads of 3-0, 5-3 and 14-13 before Aaron Mittelstadt scored inside on a feed from Hargraves to give Twin Rivers a 15-14 lead. The Royals took a 17-14 advantage into the second quarter.
Hargraves and Thomas made 3-pointers to push the Royals' lead to 23-16 before Dexter strung together a 5-0 run to close within two points of the lead. Thomas made the third of his three 3-pointers and Hargraves drove the baseline for a basket, extending the Royals' lead to 28-21. Rogers followed with the second of his four 3-pointers, but Hargraves made a floater in the lane to make the halftime score 30-24.
The teams exchanged baskets in a low-scoring third quarter. Nate Gargas ended the period with a 3-pointer to cut the Bearcats' deficit to 35-31 entering the final quarter.
Bernie 52, Kennett 47
Weston Zoll helped second-seeded Bernie start strong, and the Mules held off seventh-seeded Kennett late for a 52-47 win in a championship quarterfinal Thursday night.
"I kind of felt the whole game was a grind. Nothing was real smooth for us tonight," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "Kennett had a lot to do with that. Fortunately, the kids were able to find a way to hang on and get the 'W' even though we thought it was a bit of an ugly win."
Zoll scored 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter, helping the Mules build a 12-7 lead after one period.
"Weston is kind of our catalyst as far as our scoring goes, even though overall we're pretty balanced," Botsch said. "He got us off to a good start. We were kind of tentative shooting in the beginning, but he's been consistent throughout the year."
The Mules (9-1) began a 15-0 run at the end of the first quarter. Zoll sank a jumper and Josh Ellenburg scored after drawing the second of three charging fouls, giving them a five-point lead entering the second.
Ellenburg made a baseline jumper, and Hunter Slavings, Blake Harty and Landon Zoll made consecutive 3-pointers to give Bernie a 23-7 lead.
The Indians (5-5) scored eight of the quarter's final 10 points and trailed 25-15 at halftime.
Kennett cut its deficit to eight points (27-19) on a basket inside by Mark Wagster, but the Mules pushed their lead back to 15 (39-24) on a basket by Andrew Geohagan.
Quayv'aun Harrell answered with consecutive 3-pointers, as Kennett climbed within 39-30. Geohagan made another basket inside, and the Mules led 41-30 entering the fourth quarter.
The Mules increased their lead to 14 points on a free throw by Geohagan (46-32), but Kennett kept fighting and climbed within four (51-47) on a basket by Jackson Henfling with 25 seconds to play.
Harty scored on a full-court pass and made one of two free throws with 1.6 seconds left to secure the win.
Kennett 7 8 15 17 -- 47
Bernie 12 13 16 11 -- 52
KENNETT (5-5) -- Q. Harrell 5(3) 0-0 13. Maddox 2(0) 0-0 4. M. Harrell 1(0) 1-2 3. Pulliam 4(2) 0-1 10. Henfling 6(1) 0-0 13. McMullan 0. Hammer 0. Wagster 2(0) 0-0 4. Totals 20(6) 1-3 47.
BERNIE (9-1) -- W. Zoll 5(2) 2-4 14. Harty 2(1) 2-6 7. Ellenburg 3(0) 2-4 8. Schwent 2(0) 3-3 7. Slavings 3(2) 0-0 8. Geohagan 2(0) 1-2 5. L. Zoll 1(1) 0-0 3. Totals 18(6) 10-19 52.
Twin Rivers 17 13 5 18 -- 53
Dexter 14 10 7 21 -- 52
TWIN RIVERS (8-2) -- Hargraves 5(1) 2-2 13. Thomas 5(3) 6-6 19. Ledbetter 1(0) 0-0 2. Hendrix 1(0) 0-0 2. Mittelstadt 4(1) 0-1 9. Watson 0. Lorah 1(1) 0-0 3. Trout 1(0) 0-0 2. Landers 0. Jackson 1(1) 0-0 3. Totals 19(7) 8-9 53.
DEXTER (4-5) -- Gargas 4(1) 0-0 9. Hahn 1(0) 0-0 2. Rogers 6(4) 2-5 18. Foster 2(0) 0-0 4. Henson 6(0) 4-8 16. Hillis 0. Kincy 1(0) 1-2 3. Totals 20(5) 7-15 52.