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Ladue pulls away for win over Mules
The Poplar Bluff Mules boys basketball team lost to the Ladue Horton Watkins Rams 70-49 Friday night at the Mules gymnasium.
Both teams came into Friday’s game undefeated, with the Mules at 1-0 and the Rams at 3-0. The Mules dropped to 1-1, while Ladue improved to 4-0 on the season.
Poplar Bluff played a fierce defensive game throughout the contest, forcing turnovers, stealing balls, disputing shots and rebounding well enough to keep themselves in reach of the Rams for much of the game.
However, the Mules offense continued to be an early-season struggle, as cold shooting from both along the perimeter and under the basket kept them from capitalizing on opportunities gained by their defense.
In the end, Ladue converted on easy layups and wide-open 3-pointers often enough to maintain its lead throughout the game and pull away for the double-digit win in the final period.
“We’re inexperienced right now, and these games are going to get us where we need to be at the end of the year,” said Mules coach Will Durden. “I think we did pretty good defensively, but offensively, we’ve got to get better.”
Poplar Bluff’s leading scorers on the night were Brendan Durden with 14 points, Dallas Williams with 13 and Sammy Durden with 10.
Ladue’s Jack Edgerton led all scorers with 22 points for the Rams.
Each team hit a 3-pointer for their first score, but Ladue had the edge on offense and finished the first quarter up 19-12.
With five minutes left in the second, Ladue held a 21-16 lead. Although the Mules were playing tough on the defensive end, they weren’t making enough shots to counteract the Rams’ offense.
Brendan Durden brought the Mules within four points with a traditional three-point play, hitting the foul shot after a basket to make it 30-26 in Ladue’s favor.
The Rams made their next basket, and though it looked like they might pull away, the Mules made a final stop on defense, with Sammy Durden hitting a last-second layup to make the halftime score 32-28 in favor of the visitors.
Ladue opened the second half with a pair of bucket-and-foul three-point plays, followed by a triple from the field to extend its lead to 41-28 with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter.
The Mules continued to fight on defense, but their cold streak on offense continued until 3:54, when Brendan Durden nailed a trey to reduce Ladue’s lead to 10 points again (41-31).
Brendan Durden lit up the crowd with a steal-and-slam, followed on their next possession by Sammy Durden’s layup to bring the Mules within five points of the Rams with two minutes left in the period.
Unfortunately, that sequence was followed by a series of Mules’ turnovers and fouls that Ladue converted into consistent points, leaving the Mules in a deep hole going into the fourth quarter, down 53-40.
Ladue then outscored Poplar Bluff 17-9 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
“We just need to keep working hard and keep trying to buy in to what we’re trying to do,” said coach Durden. “As the season progresses, I think we’ll get better.”
Up next for the Mules is a matchup against Notre Dame of Cape Girardeau on Tuesday in the SEMO Conference Tournament at Sikeston.