WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Two months ago, the Blair Oaks Falcons beat the Dixon Bulldogs 64-56. On Tuesday, it was a 29-point victory for the Falcons.
The difference, at least one of them, was rebounding.
Blair Oaks outrebounded Dixon 26-15 in Tuesday's Class 3 District 9 Tournament opener. The Bulldogs finished with a 27-25 advantage on the boards in the Dec. 20 meeting in Wardsville.
"Probably the biggest key this time around from the first time we played was we rebounded so much better," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said following the 68-39 win against eighth-seeded Dixon. "Last time they killed us on the offensive glass and we did a good job at limiting second-chance points tonight."
Blair Oaks flipped that this time around, taking advantage of offensive rebounds.
The third basket of an 18-2 run that spanned two quarters came off an Ethan Luebbering offensive rebound.
Jason Rackers converted with a layup and Thomas Verslues later scored after a Ben Ward offensive rebound to make it 31-18 late in the first half.
Between those buckets, Tim Fick got back-to-back steals leading to layups the other way, one for Braydan Pritchett.
"That sparked us a little bit," Fick said. "He was able to find some guys in transition to score quick. We had guys that came out ready to play. Sometimes with a 4:30 game you never really know how they are going to respond or react. I was happy with the way we came out."
Ward added two more second-chance points at the end of the first half, extending the Falcons' lead to 35-18.
A steal and layup for Verslues to start the second half finished off the run that lasted about 6 minutes. Blair Oaks forced 19 of the 20 turnovers in the first three quarters.
"We were very active tonight," Fick said. "We got a lot of deflections and we had guys react and go get the ball off those deflections."
Blair Oaks then relied on its ability to run the floor in transition, scoring 17 points in a 5-minute span in the third quarter.
During that stretch, Dylan Skinner scored six, Verslues five, Rackers four and Luebbering two.
"We did a good job of guys getting out running," Fick said. "It all goes back to controlling the glass. Really as a team we did a good job at going to get the ball and being able to clear the initial defenders and look up the floor and make those passes. When we're playing well we're able to do that consistently."
Rackers and Ward accounted for more than half of Blair Oaks rebounds with nine and seven, respectively.
Rackers and Verslues each scored a game-high 18 points. Skinner scored 13 on 6-of-9 shooting.
Pritchett finished with seven points, including a three-point play to give Blair Oaks its largest lead of the game, a 62-30 advantage with 5:08 left.
Rackers and Ward combined for the first six points of the game.
Gavin Barnhart, who led Dixon with 17 points, knocked down a 3-pointer out of a timeout.
Skinner and Verslues then each hit a 3 to start a 12-3 run.
Dixon then closed out the first quarter on an 8-1 run thanks to a pair of 3s from Barnhart, who made 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
"I thought early on we over-committed to the help on the dribble and we didn't do a very good job of recovering to the 3-point line and contesting," Fick said.
Trey Holzer scored the first points of the second quarter with a layup to get Dixon within 19-16.
"It's key to get out to a fast start," Fick said. "We went in a little lull there late in the first quarter, but we were able to extended there before halftime."
The 18-2 run followed to give the Falcons control the rest of the way.
"Defensively I was happy all the way around," Fick said. "I thought we did a good job at containing their dribble drive. They move pretty well without the basketball. We did a good job of guarding cutters."
The Falcons' next game won't be a rematch from earlier this season. Blair Oaks (22-4) will face fifth-seeded Hermann (19-7) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.
The last time the Bearcats and Falcons met on the court was December 2015 when Blair Oaks won 69-35 at home.
Hermann enters this matchup on a three-game winning streak, including Tuesday's 62-53 victory against fourth-seeded St. James.
"Regardless of who you play, we're going to have to come out and play well to advance," Fick said.