Dexter hoops domination of Woodland in jeopardy tonight

Dexter High School sophomore guard Gibson Booker defends against Richland (Essex) on Monday at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

DEXTER – The Woodland High School boy’s basketball squad has lost its last eight meetings with Dexter by an average of 45 points.

The Cardinals have lost nine straight games against the Bearcats dating back to a 75-49 win over Dexter on January 8, 2016.

It is almost a guarantee that the former will not happen when the two teams converge tonight in Marble Hill at 7:30 p.m., and the latter may not reach a 10th Bearcat victory.

“There is no margin for error with us,” Bearcat coach Chad Allen said recently of his team this season. “We’re going to have to get after it all of the time.”

The Bearcats (2-4) have strung together eight consecutive winning seasons, but with just senior center Ethan Zabelin and senior guard Nathan Harris returning from last year’s team, this year’s group is very inexperienced, and that has shown at times.

Conversely, Woodland (6-0) is perfect this season and has six seniors (Seth Abernathy, Gary Cook, Brayden Hastings, Reed Layton, Colby Miller, and Ellias Nenninger).

The Bearcats are coming off a hard-fought win over a very good Richland (Essex) team, and in that game, a handful of young Bearcats, including sophomore guard Gibson Booker, showed potential for brighter days to come.

“We needed (Booker),” Allen said following the win. “That got (Richland) out of their zone and went man (defense). We really got off to a good start because of him.”

Dexter High School junior guard Tucker Temples makes a pass against Richland (Essex) on Monday at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter. (Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com)

Booker, who had nine points against the Rebels, had barely played this season after injuring his foot in a season-opening loss at Charleston. However, the lanky athlete brings ability at both ends of the court – when healthy.

“One thing (Booker) can do,” Allen continued, “is he can really stretch the floor and knock down (3-point shots). That is one thing that he does extremely well.

“You know, he still isn’t 100 percent.”

And neither was junior guard Tucker Temples, though you would have a hard time telling that to the Richland (Essex) team.

Temples, who has been battling an illness of late, buried five 3-pointers against the Rebels and finished with a career-high 17 points.

“Gibson is getting back,” Allen said, “and he is going to have to get in a little bit better condition, and the same thing with Tucker. He has been out for a little bit, too. We’ll have to get him conditioned back, too.”

Scoring has not been an issue for the Cardinals, who are averaging nearly 85 points per game. However, Woodland isn’t one-dimensional.

The Cardinals are defending better than the program has in well over a decade. Woodland is allowing fewer than 50 points per game.

“I knew going into the year offensively we shoot the ball well,” Woodland coach Shawn Kinder told Semoball.com earlier this season. “As long as kids continue to share the ball, we have a good chance of putting up points on the board.”

Woodland was recently named as the No. 5 seed in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, which made it the highest-seeded small school in the tournament.

The Cardinals finished fifth in that tournament last year and won their own invitational earlier this season.