PB Showdown Day 2

Thursday's Games

Seventh: Greene County Tech vs. North Pulaski, 2 p.m.

Fifth: Tupelo vs. Forrest City, 3:30 p.m.

Third: Poplar Bluff vs. Warren Central, 5 p.m.

Final: Ballard vs. Liberty Tech, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday's Scores

Tupelo 53, Greene County Tech 49

Forrest City 70, North Pulaski 68

Ballard 75, Warren Central 72

Liberty Tech 53, Poplar Bluff 52

Kentucky is the last state in the union to feature one champion in basketball.

The Ballard Bruins are hoping to be that team come March, which is why coach Chris Renner was looking for a competitive post-Christmas tournament. Renner got his answer in an email from Warren Central coach Tim Riley and the two teams ended up meeting Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Poplar Bluff Showdown.

Ballard, of Louisville, put together another fast start then held off Central of Bowling Green, 75-72, to win the Bluegrass Showdown at Peters Gym.

"Our ultimate goal is to win a state championship," Renner said. "We think we have the pieces to do it. Part of winning a championship is you've got to have baby steps along the way."

Ballard (11-1) took a giant leap in the first half for the second straight night.

After opening the tournament with a 43-9 run, the Bruins finished the opening frame with a 13-5 run. Keisten Jones scored 17 of Ballard's first 24 points, outscoring Central by himself as the Bruins took a 24-16 lead into the second quarter.

Jones, a 6-3 senior, finished with a tournament-high 32 points on 12 of 15 shooting from the field.

"Keisten Jones was on fire tonight," Renner said. "We didn't do a great job in that fourth quarter of finding him like we should have.

"He really carried us in that first half and third quarter."

Central, which trailed by as many as 19 in the third quarter, opened the fourth with a 12-3 run to pull within 61-58 on Jacob King's 3-pointer with 4 minutes left.

Devante Parker answered with a 3 for Ballard, which hit 4 of 10 free throws over the final 2:14 to keep the Dragons at bay. George Fant, who led Central with 22 points and eight rebounds, scored the final points of the game with 2 seconds left but the Dragons couldn't steal the inbound pass, falling in the semifinal for the second straight year.

The Bruins connected on 9-of-22 shots from 3-point range and shot nearly 60 percent inside the line but struggled at the line.

"We've got to do a better job with free throws, that's the main thing," Renner said of a 10-for-21 performance at the line.

Ballard will play the defending champions, Liberty Tech, which advanced with a 53-52 win over the host Mules in the final game Wednesday night.

"It's going to be tough," said Tech coach Arnett Bodenhamer, who was not happy with his team's performance. "If we play like we have the last two days, it's not even going to be a competition.

"It's like going to work, you gotta go to work. You don't go to work and don't produce, you get fired."

Forrest City 70, North Pulaski 68

Teraye Lee hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer from the deep wing to lift the Mustangs into the fifth-place game.

There were 21 lead changes and 11 ties with North Pulaski pulling ahead 68-67 on Bryan Colson's free throw with 15.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Lee missed a drive to the basket but the Falcons knocked the rebound out of bounds with 5 seconds left. Lee made good on his second chance, finishing with a game-high 29 points. He hit all 12 of his free throws and 7 of 12 shots from the field for the Mustangs (4-6).

Kyron Ware led the Falcons (8-4) with 18 points while Aaron Cooper added 17.

Tupelo 53, Greene County Tech 49

Deontaye Ewing scored 22 for the Golden Wave after winning the 3-point contest earlier in the day.

Ewing hit 2-of-6 from 3-point range to help Tupelo (12-4) rally from a 12-point first-half deficit. His 3 to start the fourth quarter put the Golden Wave up for good and started an eight-point run.

Cael Hartwig scored 20 to lead Tech (6-6), which pulled within 47-45 on Matt Taylor's 3 with 2:17 left.

Tupelo hit 5 of 10 free throws the rest of the way and forced a 5-second violation on an inbound pass with 6.7 left up by three.

Tech's loss sets up a rematch in the seventh-place game with North Pulaski after the two teams met in last year's state championship game.

The day started with a 4-point win by Tupelo, followed by a 3-point Ballard win, a 2-point Forrest City win and finally a 1-point Liberty Tech win. Here's a recap:

Welcome to the second day of the 23rd annual Poplar Bluff Showdown at Peters Gym.

Earlier today, Tupelo's Deontaye Ewing won the 3-point contest while Jay Raulston of Poplar Bluff won the slam dunk contest.

Mules-Liberty Tech about to tipoff.

Tech scores the first eight points, Mules rally back, catches the Crusaders before the end of the quarter, 15-15.

Jay Raulston throws down a dunk (see above) off a pass from Greg Coble to put the Mules up 24-18 with 4:28 left in the half.

Mules push the advantage to 10 but Tech hits a 3, gets a steal and layin to cut it to 28-23 with 1:20 left in the half.

Eljie Johnson got a putback on a nifty layin with his back to the hoop before Greg Coble's pull-up jumper pushed the lead back to nine. Tech scored just before the buzzer as the Mules take a 32-25 advantage into the break.

Raulston has 12 points and six rebounds in the first half to lead all-scorers. DeAndre Barnette leads Tech with eight points. Mules shot 60 percent from inside 3-point line and 2-of-4 behind it. Mules scored six second-chance points to Tech's none.

Teams come out of locker room to 'Rocky' theme music. Nice. Folks it's 10:06, start of the second half.

Midway through the third quarter, Mules lead 37-30. Lots of missed shots and turnovers, it must be past everybody's bedtime. (Jack you better not be up reading this!)

Raulston with a steal and heads the other way. He's fouled hard at the other end, hits 1 of 2 free throws to push the lead to 40-31 with 2:47 left in the third.

Tech pulls within four with 1:27 left.

Jake White cans a 3 off a cross pass from Coble with 40 seconds left. Mules lead 43-36 heading into the fourth. The winner plays in 20 hours for the championship. Will it be the Mules first final appearance since winning it all in 2004? Did I just jinx them? Will I get any sleep tonight?

Tech's Cordaro Williams splashes in a 3 from the wing to tie the game at 45-45 with 5:05 left. The Mules have missed six straight shots to open the fourth quarter.

Tech's Tarius Johnson gets a steal leading to Jauwon Cain's layin for the 51-50 lead with 1:15 left.

LADY MULES WON AT DYERSBURG, beating Liberty Tech in the final. Hope to have something in Thursday's paper.

A loose ball gets knocked out of bounds off the Mules, forcing Poplar Bluff to foul with 35 seconds left. Tech's Cain hits both ends of a one-and-one for a 53-50 lead.

Raulston hits two free throws after an offense rebound and Tech misses the front end of a one-and-one. Mules get rebound, timeout with 12.6 left on the clock, down one.

Ball is knocked out of bounds with 4.1 seconds left. Inbound to White, his 3 from the wing is long and Tarius Johnson gets the rebound at the buzzer.

Tech wins 53-52 and will defend its Showdown title Wednesday night.

Liberty Tech 15 10 11 17 -- 53

Poplar Bluff 15 17 11 9 -- 52

TECH (11-3) -- Anthony 3-4 (0-2) 2-3 8. Johnson 5-7 (0-1) 2-6 12. Williams 3-8 (2-4) 1-1 13. Cain 2-2 (0-2) 4-6 8. Barnette 2-3 (2-6) 0-1 10. Yeates 0. Lindsey 1-1 0-0 2. Day 0-0 (0-1) 0-0 0. Bobo 0-1 0-0 0. Blaylock 0. Totals: 16-26 (4-16) 9-17 53.

POPLAR BLUFF (7-3) -- Coble 4-8 (0-2) 0-0 8. Abraham 0-0 (2-3) 0-0 6. Raulston 8-12 5-9 21. White 1-4 (1-3) 2-2 7. Johnson 2-7 0-0 4. Griggs 0-1 0-0 0. McCain 0-1 2-2 2. McAnulty 1-1 0-0 2. Marler 0-2 2-2 2. Shrum 0. Totals: 16-36 (3-8) 11-15 52.

From earlier

The second consolation semifinal is underway between North Pulaski and Forrest City in a battle of Arkansas teams.

After one quarter, Forrest City leads 20-17.

At halftime, the Falcons lead 37-35.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Mustangs lead 49-48.

This one is a barn-burner, folks. It's 68-67 North Pulaski with 5 seconds left but Forrest City has the ball under its own basket, coming out of a timeout.

FC's Jim Bailey trigger man, to Mykial Harris at the top of the key, has trouble, gets to James Humphery on the left wing, swings to opposite wing where Teraye Lee hits a deep 3 that splashes in at the buzzer for a 70-68 victory for the Mustangs.

There were 21 lead changes and 11 ties in that game. Lee finished with 29 points, hitting all 12 free throws and 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Jim Bailey added 12 points for the Mustangs (4-6).

Kyron Ware led the Falcons (8-4) with 18 points while Aaron Cooper added 17. Bryan Colson had eight points and 10 rebounds.

That sets up a rematch of last year's Arkansas state championship game for seventh place (Greene County Tech and North Pulaski).

Forrest City 20 15 14 21 -- 70

North Pulaski 17 20 11 20 -- 68

FORREST CITY (4-6) -- Lee 4-7 (3-5) 12-12 29. Harris 2-6 (0-1) 1-6 5. Bean 0-0 1-2 1. Bailey 2-3 (1-4) 5-6 12. Rogers 0-3 (2-5) 3-4 9. Humphery 2-3 0-0 4. Austin 0. Barber 0-0 2-2 2. Moore 1-1 0-0 2. Davyon McKinney 1-2 (1-1) 1-2 6. Totals: 12-25 (7-16) 25-34 70.

NORTH PULASKI (8-4) -- Ready 2-6 (1-2) 0-0 7. Cooper 4-6 (1-5) 6-8 17. Ware 6-8 (2-3) 0-0 18. Colson 1-4 6-10 8. Davis 9. Seward 0. Spicer 0-0 2-2 2. Allen 1-1 1-2 3. Knight 2-5 1-2 5. Bohannon 1-1 (0-1) 0-0 2. Totals: 20-39 (4-12) 16-24 68.

The first championship semifinal between Ballard and Warren Central is underway:

After one quarter, Ballard leads 24-16. Keisten Jones scored 17 in the first quarter, including a 4-point play, then later an eight-point run to finish the quarter when he hit a 3, got a steal and hit another triple from the wing and later got a fast-break layin.

The Bruins led by double digits for much of the second quarter and go into the half up 35-29.

Ballard is pulling away, fast. The Bruins opened the second half with a 16-3 run highlighted by a couple of dunks, one from Tyrell Means and another by Jones that put Ballard up 51-34 midway through the quarter.

Heading into the fourth, Ballard leads 56-41.

Central has put together a 12-3 run to start the fourth. It's not 61-55 Ballard with 4:27 left. Make that Ballard up 3 following a triple by Jacob King.

Ballard answers with a free throw and forces a turnover on the ensuing inbound play to set up Devante Parker's 3 from the wing as the Bruins go up 65-58 with 3:52 left.

George Fant scores off a lob pass for Central to cut the deficit to 5 with 2:58 to go ...

Teams trade buckets, Jones hits 1 of 2 free throws, teams trade buckets again, down to under 1:30 left with Bruins up 72-66.

Central misses from the field twice but Ballard's Means hits 1 of 2 free throws to push the lead to 7 with 69 seconds left.

Ballard's Chiles hits 1 of 2 free throws, Central throws the ball away and Ballard's Devante Parker hits 1 of 2 at the line with 40 seconds left.

Troy Holcomb's drive and spin for a layup pulls Central within 5 with 23 seconds left and Ballard turns the ball over on the inbound pass, but Holcomb's 3 from the corner falls short. Ballard misses two free throws with 10 seconds left and Fant scores off an inbound lob 8 seconds later to cut the deficit to 3.

Ballard inbounds the ball with 2.0 showing on the clock, long pass down court runs off the time.

Ballard wins 75-72, will play in final at 6:30 p.m. Thursday while Central plays at 5 p.m. for third.

Jones scored 32 for Ballard on 12-of-15 from the field, including 6-of-9 from 3. Fant led Central with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Warren Central 16 13 12 31 -- 72

Ballard 24 11 21 19 -- 75

CENTRAL (5-4) -- Holcomb 6-9 (0-1) 2-2 14. Carpenter 1-4 2-2 4. Wells 5-7 (0-1) 3-6 13. King 1-1 (4-8) 0-0 14. Fant 10-13 2-5 22. Boards 0. Jackson 1-2 1-2 3. Barber 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Halsel 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 25-39 (4-11) 10-17 72.

BALLARD (11-1) -- Means 4-5 (0-2) 3-8 11. Hardin 3-6 1-4 7. Chiles 3-6 (0-3) 1-2 7. Parker 2-2 (1-3) 1-2 8. Jones 6-6 (6-9) 2-3 32. Baker 0. Hardin 0-4 2-2 2. Johnson 1-3 0-0 2. Dickerson 0-0 (1-1) 0-0 3. Collier 0-0 (1-4) 0-0 3. Totals: 19-32 (9-22) 10-21 75.

Greene County Tech (Ark.) and Tupelo (Miss.) are playing in the first consolation semifinal of the day.

Tech scored seven straight here in the first quarter and holds a 13-5 lead heading into the second.

At halftime, Tech led 26-21 but Tupelo has rallied to within 36-35 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Golden Wave have pulled ahead early in the fourth, by scoring the first eight points of the quarter. Chris Brooks hit a 3 to put Tupelo up 43-36 with 6:46 left. Tech answered with six straight points to pull within 43-42 at the midway point.

Tech's Matt Taylor hits a 3 from the corner to pull the Golden Eagles to within 47-45 with 2:17 left. The Wave go into a delay. Reed Clayton hits 1 of 2 free throws with 1:36 left and Tech misses two shots, including a layin. Clayton hits 1 of 2 again with 1:04 left and with 53 seconds left after a steal by Brooks.

Tech's Caleb Hartwig hits a pair of layins to pull the Eagles within 51-49. Timeout with 24.3 seconds left.

Tupelo's Shane Butler at the free-throw line with 15.2 let, misses first, hits second.

Tech calls timeout with 6.7 seconds left, down three. Inbound from the right sideline with Matt Taylor the trigger man. Calls timeout but it's too late, 5-second violation.

Tupelo's Deontaye Ewing misses the first free throw with 3.8 left, hits second.

Final, 53-49.

Tech will play at 2 p.m. Thursday for seventh while Tupelo will play at 3:30 p.m. in the fifth-place game.

Greene County Tech 13 13 10 13 -- 49

Tupelo 5 16 14 18 -- 53

TECH (6-6) -- Goodman 3-4 0-0 6. Hartwig 10-13 0-1 20. George 2-5 (0-1) 2-2 6. Williams 3-8 1-2 7. Batten 0-2 0-0 0. Shelton 2-4 0-0 4. Ferguson 0. Forehand 0-1 0-0 0. McCreless 0-1 0-0 0. Taylor 0-0 (2-6) 0-0 6. Liddell 0. Slayton 0. Totals: 20-38 (2-7) 3-5 49.

TUPELO (12-4) -- Clayton 0-0 (0-2) 5-8 5. Marshall 0-0 (0-2) 0-0 0. Hadley 0-3 2-2 9. Ewing 6-9 (2-6) 4-6 22. Foster 4-9 2-2 10. Jones 0-3 0-0 0. Morris 0-2 (0-2) 0-0 0. Brooks 3-6 (1-1) 0-0 9. Butler 0-1 (1-2) 1-2 4. Johnson 0-1 1-2 1. Harrelson 0. Totals: 13-34 (4-15) 15-22 53.