PB Showdown Day 1

Here's the updated bracket.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- There will be no championship rematch at the Poplar Bluff Showdown.

Defending champion Booker T. Washington of Memphis handled Forrest City (Ark.) 67-48 in the opening round of the 26th annual Poplar Bluff Showdown at Peters Gym.

The Warriors will face Jonesboro (Ark.), which beat last year's runner-up Maplewood-Richmond Heights 62-56.

BTW also beat Forrest City in the opening round last year before beating MRH by a point in the final.

The other semifinal will feature Poplar Bluff and two-time champion Liberty Tech of Jackson (Miss.). The host Mules advanced with a 76-67 win over Moss Point (Miss.) while Liberty beat Memphis Kirby 51-36.

In the final game of the night, the defending champs picked up right where they left off.

Zarmalus Griffin scored 27 points to lead BTW (6-1) while Jemarcus Franklin added 17.

Treveyun Hutchienson's 19 points led Forrest City (5-4) while Joseph Tripp added 10. Trey Thompson added seven points, six rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals.

BTW extended a 3-point first-quarter lead to 29-23 by halftime. In the third quarter, the Warriors took off, going on a 17-3 run and outscoring the Mustangs 24-12 in the third quarter.

The Warriors shot 68.4 percent from the field in the second half while Forrest City hit just 38.2 percent of its shots for the game.

Poplar Bluff 76, Moss Point (Miss.) 67

The host Mules earned an opening night win for the first time since 2009 by wearing down the Tigers, who were making their first Showdown appearance.

Moss Point junior Devin Booker scored 22 of his tournament-high 36 points in the first half.

Ryan Brittingham scored 20 points off the bench for Poplar Bluff (7-2), hitting 4-of-8 3-point shots. Stacy Gipson had 17 points and 14 rebounds while Lucas Tibbs added 14 points. Lance Gray scored 12 to go with three steals and eight rebounds.

The Mules jumped out to a 9-2 lead as Moss Point went scoreless until the 5:05 mark.

Booker, who was coming off a 49-point performance in the Tigers' last game Friday, hit 10-of-28 shots including 3-of-12 from 3-point range. Derrick McMillan scored 11 points while Alex Payton had five blocks and nine rebounds.

Moss Point (5-9) led 39-37 at halftime and opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run. Poplar Bluff answered with a 19-4 swing to take a 58-51 lead into the fourth quarter.

Up 64-61, the Mules scored 10 straight points by holding Moss Point scoreless from the 3:40 mark until Booker's 3 with 69 seconds to play. Poplar Bluff forced four turnovers during the span as each team finished with 22 miscues.

Jonesboro (Ark.) 62, Maplewood-RH 56

The Golden Hurricanes forced 21 turnovers, including 10 steals, to surge past the Blue Devils.

Four different Jonesboro players had two steals each as the Golden Hurricanes scored 23 points off turnovers.

Kahron Ross scored 15 points, Aaron Washington added 13, Randle Toliver 11 and Tony White 10 for Jonesboro (9-2).

Kahlid Hagens scored 18 to lead the Blue Devils (9-3), who lost by a point in the championship game last year. Aaron Spudlich had 11 points and 14 rebounds.

There were 14 lead changes and the largest lead came in the final minute of the first half.

MRH scored eight straight points in the second quarter to surge ahead and led 32-28 at halftime.

Jonesboro opened the second half with a 12-6 run to pull ahead after consecutive 3s by Ross. They led 45-43 heading into the final quarter when the Golden Hurricanes hit 10-of-12 free throws.

MRH got within four on four occasions in the final 3:36 but Jonesboro each time. UP 60-56 with under 15 seconds left, Toliver iced the game with a steal and layin.

Liberty Tech (Tenn.) 51, Memphis Kirby 36

The Crusaiders built a 10-point second-quarter lead and held off a charge by Kirby in the second half before pulling away.

Kendal Walker scored a game-high 15 points and Daniel Hill had nine assists, three steals and six points for Tech (6-3). Tyler Taylor scored 11 points off the bench to go with eight rebounds.

D'Ante Isabel scored 10 points to lead Kirby (4-6).

Tech led 23-17 at halftime.

Kirby got within 27-23 midway through the third quarter on D'Ante Isabel's pull-up jumper in the lane. Tech's Landon Simmons answered with a 3 in the corner but Kirby again closed to within four but the Cougars didn't score over the final 2:15 and Tech took a 10-point lead into the final quarter.

Kirby's LaDarrius Mitchell suffered a shoulder injury with 2 minutes left.

Kirby 6 11 9 10 -- 36

Tech 11 12 13 15 -- 51

KIRBY (4-6) -- Mitchell 2-8(0-1) 2-2 6. Isabel 4-11(1-4) 1-2 10. Miller 1-5 2-2 4. Malone 0-1 0-0 0. Jones 2-2 2-3 6. Franklin 2-7(1-4) 1-1 6. Wilkins 0. Banks 0-3 0-0 0. Walls 1-1 0-0 2. Bates 0-3(0-1) 0-0 0. Pulliam 0. McNeil 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 13-43(2-10) 8-10 36.

Rebounds: 28. (Bates 6. Mitchell 6.) Assists: 6 (Mitchell 4). Blocks: 2 (Miller. Bates.) Steals: 6 (Miller 2).

TECH (6-3) -- Hill 2-6(0-2) 2-2 6. Walker 6-10(3-5) 0-0 15. Simmons 3-14(3-14) 0-0 9. Meadows -1 0-0 0. Crisp 2-5 2-2 6. Ross 0-2(0-2) 0-0 0. Anthony 0-0 0-1 0. Fowler 0. Willis 0-5 (0-4) 0-0 0. Taylor 5-8 1-2 11. Beauregard 0-2 2-2 2. Pirtle 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 19-54 (6-27) 7-9 51.

Rebounds: 32 (Crisp 9. Taylor 8.) Assists: 11 (Hill 9). Blocks: 2 (Simmons. Crisp). Steals: 5 (Hill 3).

Maplewood-RH 15 17 11 13 -- 56

Jonesboro 18 10 17 17 -- 62

MAPLEWOODS-RH (9-3) -- Brooks 2-5 (0-20 5-6 9. Williams 3-4 (1-1) 0-0 7. Hagens 7-15 (1-3) 3-4 18. Spudlich 5-8 1-1 11. Frazier 2-5 1-2 5. Greenwalt 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Guynn 0. Collins 2-5 2-2 6. Dudley 0. Halfacre 0. Totals: 21-43 (2-7) 12-15 56.

Rebounds: 33 (Spudlich 14.) Assists: 13 (Williams. Spudlich 3.) Blocks 5 (Hagens 2.) Steals 6 (Hagens 2.)

JONESBORO (9-2) -- Ross 5-12 (2-4) 3-3 15. Toliver 5-11 (0-4) 1-2 11. Pointer 1-5 (1-2) 1-5 4. Williams 1-3 0-0 2. Washington 4-5 5-6 13. White 5-10 0-0 10. Lockhart 1-4 3-4 5. York 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 23-52 (3-10) 13-20 62.

Rebounds: 21 (Pointer 6. Toliver 5. Washington 5.) Assists: 9 (Pointer 5.) Blocks: 0. Steals: 10 (White 2. ross 2. Pointer 2. Williams 2.)

Moss Point 18 21 12 16 -- 67

Poplar Bluff 21 16 21 18 -- 76

MOSS POINT (5-9) -- Booker 10-28 (3-12) 13-15 36. Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0. Payton 2-6 0-0 4. McCarty 0-1 0-0 0. McMillan 5-10 1-3 11. Trussel 1-6 (0-4) 4-6 6. Randolph 1-3 0-0 2. Roy 2-3 (2-2) 2-2 8. Brown 0. Totals: 21-59 (5-18) 20-26 67.

Rebounds: 31 (Payton 9. Booker 8. McMillan 7.) Assists: 11 (Mitchell 4.) Blocks: 6 (Payton 5.) Steals: 13 (Mitchell 5. Booker 4.)

POPLAR BLUFF (7-2) -- Eyler 2-6 (0-1) 3-4 7. Tibbs 6-10 2-4 14. Gipson 7-15 (1-1) 2-5 17. Stocks 0-2 0-1 0. Gray 2-10 (0-1) 8-10 12. Metcalf 0-4 3-4 3. Brittingham 7-12 (4-8) 2-2 20. Stuckenschneider 1-4 (0-1) 1-2 3. Totals: 25-63 (5-14) 21-32 76.

Rebounds: 44 (Gipson 14. Gray 8.) Assists: 15 (Stuckenschneider 5.) Blocks: 0. Steals: 13 (Stocks 4. Gray 3.)

Forrest City 10 13 12 13 -- 48

BT Washington 13 16 24 14 -- 67

FORREST CITY (5-4) -- Silours 0-4 0-0 0. Hutchienson 8-15 (3-7) 0-0 19. Thompson 3-5 1-2 7. Coulter 1-7 (1-4) 0-0 3. Whitfield 1-7 0-0 2. Tripp 3-4 (1-2) 3-4 10. Jordan 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0. Smith 3-5 (1-1) 0-0 7. Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 19-49 (6-15) 4-6 48.

Rebounds: 22 (Thompson 6. Silours 4. Smith 4. Whitfield 4.) Assists: 12 (Thompson 5.) Blocks: 5 (Thompson 5.) Steals 7 (Thompson 3.)

BTW (6-1) -- Milan-Mitchell 5-8 0-0 10. Carwell 3-6 1-2 7. Beason 0-2 0-0 0. Griffin 12-18 (3-6) 2-2 27. Franklin 5-10 (0-3) 7-9 17. Taylor 0-2 (0-1) 0-1 0. Taylor 3-4 0-0 6. Totals: 27-50 (3-10) 10-14 67.

Rebounds: 26 (Carwell 11.) Assists: 11 (Franklin 3). Blocks: 2 (Franklin. Carwell.) Steals: 10 (Milan-Mitchell 4).