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SEMO teams fall in Showdown opener
POPLAR BLUFF -- The opening night of the 22nd annual Poplar Bluff Showdown wasn't a good one for SEMO Conference teams.
All three area teams lost Monday night while 2006 champion Forrest City, Ark. joined Sikeston, New Madrid County Central and Poplar Bluff on the consolation side of the bracket.
"It's a tough night, but it ain't like we're playing against some cupcakes too," New Madrid coach Travis Day said following a 57-55 loss to Raytown South.
"There are some really good teams that are coming in here."
Warren Central (Ky.) edged SEMO Conference Tournament champion Sikeston, 66-62, while Liberty Tech (Tenn.) stopped Forrest City in the second half for a 67-51 win.
Raytown South, which finished third at last year's Showdown, will face Greene County Tech (Ark.) in the semifinals tonight after the Golden Eagles beat the host 44-36.
"It's a tough tournament," Raytown South coach Brad Oestreich said. "I'm just happy to get out of the first round.
"An ugly win is better than a pretty loss."
South and New Madrid combined for 35 missed free throws and 66 missed shots in the final game of the night. The Cardinals (6-2) held on and avoided a repeat of last year's semifinal when a last-second, 57-foot shot banked in to beat them following a few missed free throws.
However this time after South missed two free throws with 3.7 seconds left, Josh Minner's desperation heave sailed wide left.
Oestreich said one of his players on the bench brought up last year's loss during the final minute as the Eagles inched closer.
"I said 'they can't get us twice,'" Oestreich added.
Rian Pearson scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinals while Corey Hilliard added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 at the free-throw line.
Minner led the 5-3 Eagles with 20 points and had 10 rebounds. Kony Ealy also chipped in a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. New Madrid out-rebounded South 50-29 but was 13-of-33 at the free-throw line and had 19 turnovers.
"It's only going to make us better," Day said. "For us, free throws and layups killed us. Hit our free throws and our layups there's no telling what the score is going to be."
There were 11 lead changes and three ties in the first half before South surged ahead with a 13-2 run and led 33-24 at halftime. The Cardinals led by as many as 11 before the Eagles rallied with a 10-3 run. South led 46-38 heading into the final quarter, when the Cardinals hit 3-of-10 free throws and Minner scored 11 points to spark the rally.
Ealy's tipin with 77 seconds left pulled the Eagles to within 55-53. South's Miles Shelton hit two free throws with 41 seconds remaining and the Cardinals forced a turnover, only to come up empty at the line.
Minner scored to pull the Eagles to within two and set up the final seconds.
"We played hard, we just didn't hit what we needed to hit," Day said.
Warren Central 66, Sikeston 62
The Bulldogs overcame a 16-point first-quarter deficit but couldn't finish the comeback late, losing in the opening round for the second straight year.
Sikeston's Michael Porter scored a tournament-high 34 and had nine rebounds.
"They're a good team," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said of the 7-2 Dragons. "You have to give them credit, they played well and we just didn't handle things like we needed to in the first quarter."
Central had three players reach double figures in scoring led by Jordan Shanklin and George Fant with 16 points each off the bench.
The Dragons opened the fourth quarter with a 10-1 run after Jacob King's putback at the end of the third quarter tied the game at 51-51. Shanklin and King hit 3s and Fant hit from the paint before two free throws by Shanklin ended the run.
Central, which opened the game with a 22-6 run, led by seven following Fant's turn-around jumper with 2:15 to go, but Porter canned a 3-pointer.
Porter hit another 3 with 18 seconds left to cut the deficit to 65-62 and Central missed a one-and-one opportunity. Sikeston also missed a free throw with 11 seconds left and couldn't get off a shot in the closing seconds after Pete Winn hit the second of his attempts from the line for the Dragons.
"We just had a lapse there," Holifield said of Central's fourth-quarter run. "They made some 3s and pulled away from us."
Liberty Tech 67, Forrest City 51
The Crusaders pulled away midway through the second half in the opening game.
Liberty (12-1) finished the third quarter with a 12-4 run before DeAndre Barnette opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to give the Crusaders a 52-42 lead.
Barnette finished with 18 points, hitting 4-of-7 shots from 3-point range, while Tarius Johnson led Liberty with 20 points and seven rebounds.
Larry Rogers scored 15 points to lead Forrest City (5-6), which led 34-32 at halftime.
There were eight lead changes and three ties before the Crusaders made their run. Johnson scored off one of Ricky Williams' six assists to give Liberty a 39-38 lead with 4:10 left in the third quarter. Williams followed with a 3 and Kendall Anthony added a pair of steals and layins during the run.
Liberty led 49-42 after three quarters and Barnette opened the fourth with a 3-pointer for a double-digit lead.
Anthony had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Liberty while Johnson hit 8-of-13 shots.
The Mustangs hit 25 percent of their shots from the field in the second half after shooting 65 percent in the first half.