After Day 1 of holiday tournaments, now it gets interesting

With the exception of one, upsets dotted the schedule at every high school boys basketball tournament that opened today across the area.

At Bloomfield, it was Puxico, Richland and Van Buren pulling off the surprises. At Cabool, Norwood and Plato. At Park Hills, it was Potosi.

And after a day of upsets at three sites, it could get even more interesting Saturday.

At Bloomfield, Dexter vs. Puxico (5:30 p.m.) and Twin Rivers vs. Van Buren (7 p.m.) highlight a day that features eight games starting at 9:30 a.m. Bernie faces Bloomfield at 4 and Richland meets Portageville at 8:30 in other championship semifinals.

At the Show Me Center, favored teams won Friday, setting up a pair of intriguing large school vs. small school matchups: Notre Dame plays Advance at 6, followed at 7:30 by Jackson's game against Leopold. Other championship semifinals are Charleston vs. Cape Girardeau Central and Scott County Central vs. Kelly.

At Park Hills, first-round games and consolation semifinals are Saturday, followed Monday by championship semifinals highlighted by DeSoto vs. Ste. Genevieve at 5:30 p.m., along with potential Farmington-Herculaneum and South Iron-North County matchups Monday night.

At Cabool, top-seeded Eminence earned a first-round bye and opens Saturday against Cabool. It'll be the first game for the Redwings without standout senior Austin Brewer, who's recovering from a hunting accident earlier in the week.

• Another team without one of its key players is East Prairie, which helps explain an unlikely 75-29 loss to Dexter in the first round at Bloomfield. The Eagles are without M.C. Williams, who has left the team. Williams became the first-ever East Prairie player to win the Carr Trophy — awarded by the Poplar Bluff Letter Club to the top football player in the SEMO Conference — back in November.

• Opening-day holiday tournament games are known for their lopsided scores, and with a few exceptions this year was no different.

Out of eight games at the Show Me Center, only one was decided by 10 points or less. At Bloomfield, two were decided by 10 points or less, and at Cabool, four were decided by 10 points or less.

But the day's closest boys games were at Park Hills #&151 out of four games scheduled, the margins were three points (twice), eight and 21.

On average, first-round margins were 30 points at Bloomfield, 27 at the Show Me Center, 21 at Cabool and 9 at Park Hills.

• Friday's upsets will keep the past three Bloomfield tournament winners — Hayti (last year), Malden (2006) and Doniphan (2005) — out of the finals. Dexter is the most recent champion still in the winner's bracket; the Bearcats won seven straight titles from 1998 to 2004.