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Mules hold off Caruthersville in season opener
The Poplar Bluff Mules boys varsity basketball team opened up its season at home with a 60-53 victory over the Caruthersville Tigers on Tuesday night at Mules Gymnasium.
The Mules picked up their first win of the season to start 1-0, while the Tigers remained winless at 0-3.
For fans of aesthetically pleasing basketball, Tuesday’s game was an example of missed shots, turnovers, and bad fouls for both teams on the court.
“Coach Gene (Bess) used to say that it’s nice to learn from an ugly win,” said Mules head coach Will Durden, who played for Bess at Three Rivers College from 2001-03. “Tonight was about as ugly as you can get. We were missing layups and defensive assignments.”
Despite the shortcomings, Poplar Bluff came out on top, with senior Brendan Durden leading the way with 23 points. Dallas Williams had 13 points, and Jay Edmundson and Sammy Durden each scored nine.
The Mules jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but Caruthersville tied it up shortly after, and the two teams played an even first quarter, with Poplar Bluff holding a 17-14 lead at the end of the period.
The Mules extended their lead to 23-15 with 5:36 left in the half, but a combination of cold outside shooting and fouls allowed the visitors to climb back to within three points (23-20) with 2:26 remaining.
Poplar Bluff matched its biggest lead of the first half when Jay Edmundson hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the half to make it 30-22, but the Tigers answered with their own triple, and the half ended with the Mules up 30-25.
The Tigers came out in the third and scored six consecutive points to take a 31-30 lead in just over one minute. They then hit a 3 a minute later to make it 34-30.
The Mules didn’t help their cause with turnovers and missed layups during Caruthersville’s 9-0 run. Brendan Durden finally broke the streak with a pair of free throws to bring Poplar Bluff within two points (34-32) with five minutes left in the third quarter.
Despite being outscored in the third, a last-second layup from Edmundson cut the Tigers’ lead to 44-43 at the end of the period.
“What I liked about tonight was how our kids battled back,” coach Durden said. “We could have folded when we lost a lead, but our kids handled adversity, and I thought they get a good job with it.”
Edmundson hit the first bucket of the fourth to give the Mules their first lead since the beginning of the third quarter. After the Tigers responded with a basket, Brendan Durden hit a trey to put Poplar Bluff back up by two points with 5:50 left in the game.
Brendan Durden later hit a layup and a foul shot for a three-point play to put the Mules up by three points (54-51) with 2:08 remaining.
The final two minutes were marked by more turnovers than scoring, with the only shots made coming from the foul line. Brendan Durden made two at the foul line with 36 seconds left to give Poplar Bluff a 57-52 lead.
Edmundson followed with two more free throws to extend the Mules’ lead to 59-52 with 20 seconds left, and the defense closed out the game from there.
Next up for Poplar Bluff is Ladue, who will travel to Mules Gymnasium on Friday.
“They were a ranked team last year, and they brought some kids back,” coach Durden said. “They’re undefeated right now, so we have to work on making sure we pick up the right assignments and working the ball on offense.”