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South Pemiscot pulls out win over Campbell in BAC tourney; Portageville, Caruthersville also advance
MALDEN – The South Pemiscot High School Bulldogs went the distance against the Campbell Camels Saturday in the Bootheel Conference Tournament at Malden High School and took home a win, 62-50.
The Bulldogs had their collective hands full on the court as Campbell Head Coach Steve Fowler was able to field a team on the mend from previous illnesses and injuries.
South Pem Head Coach Jordan McGowan holds Fowler and company in high regard, and said his squad enjoyed a "good practice" recently after harsh winter weather sidelined nearly every program in the conference.
McGowan predicted Saturday's outing would be a thrilling, hard-fought roller coaster of a game.
"We just played them Monday night at Steele," McGowan said. "It's gonna be a tough matchup again.
"It was kind of hard to get anything put in or anything put out last week because of all the snow and rescheduling games," he added. "We had a good practice yesterday and hopefully we got some things covered that we can go over. I know Campbell had a good practice yesterday, too, probably. So tonight's game should be one for the ages."
Fowler was equally as respectful of McGowan's team, and McGowan's coaching.
"We're healthier than we were a couple weeks ago," he noted. "We got a lot of our guys back and 100 percent. So we'll see what happens. We played South Pem last week. They're gonna be really athletic. They're gonna hit the boards hard."
McGowan said his team would need to muster everything to corral a long, strong Camels squad.
"Campbell gives us problems due to their length," McGowan noted. "We're real small but we're real fast.
"So, it's gonna come down to who's making shots tonight," he continued. "We made a great percentage of our shots Monday night, the first game of the week. This is game four this week. Could be a different story tonight. I'm hopeful. We knocked down a bunch of shots Thursday night at Holcomb, so I'm hoping for the same tonight."
South Pem guard Robert Farmer was first to score, dropping a three-point nugget from the top of the key, followed soon after by a Camels goal.
The two teams battled for the lead throughout Saturday's game, which found South Pem on top 15-11 at the end of the first period.
Not to be dissuaded, Fowler's team roared back to lead 20-18 with five minutes remaining in the second.
The Camels stayed out front about a minute before South Pem hit a three from the outside to go ahead 21-20, and that lead disappeared three minutes later when the Camels tied the game 25-25 with 2:20 left to play in the half.
A referee's call against Campbell was cause for Fowler's concern, and the coach was vocal and animated from the sidelines.
The Bulldogs led the Camels 29-26 at the half, but Fowler's squad refused to lay down and tied the score 29-29 in the opening minutes of the third period.
South Pem's Farmer, with 11 points to his credit, sank a nice jump shot from the foul line, 31-29 South Pem, only to be outscored in subsequent minutes, 32-31 Campbell with six minutes left in the third.
South Pem tied the score 36-36, and the teams remained tied 38-38 for the better part of five minutes as they fought skirmish after skirmish for court dominance. The Bulldogs broke the tie from the foul line and remained in the lead 39-38 at the end of three.
South Pem drew first blood in the final period, but Campbell's Landen Wilson reached into his defensive bag of tricks and stuffed a Bulldog to deny a goal, 42-40 South Pem with 6:41 left to play.
Farmer dropped a three and extended South Pem's lead 45-40, drew a foul and scored a free throw, 46-41 Bulldogs.
The teams continued intense action and with the score 52-46 South Pem, Farmer strode in for a nice layup, 54-46 only to be answered by the Camels, 54-48 with 1:45 remaining on the clock.
Farmer continued rampaging and with the score 58-48 South Pem, stepped to the line for a foul shot, 59-48 Bulldogs.
The game continued with the Camels scoring and brought the score to 60-50 South Pem.
Farmer, with 27 points on the night, drew a foul, dropped two free throws and that was the game, 62-50 Bulldogs.
South Pemiscot advanced to the tourney's semi-finals and faces the first-seeded Malden Green Wave tonight at Malden.
Portageville took down Senath-Hornersville, and Caruthersville upended rival Hayti in the opening round as well. The Bulldogs take on the Tigers at 8:15 p.m., tonight.