Mules rally past Urbana, into Showdown semifinals

Poplar Bluff's Sammy Durden (34) shoots in traffic against Urbana defenders Jesse Mfwamba (23) and Jaiden Anindo during first-round action Thursday at the Poplar Bluff Basketball Showdown at Mules Gymnasium.

DAR/Mike Buhler

Down by seven points going into the fourth quarter, the Poplar Bluff basketball Mules faced the prospect of losing in the first round of their home tournament on Thursday, but the Mules were resilient as they came from behind for a 57-53 win over the Urbana Tigers of Illinois in the 37th Annual Poplar Bluff Showdown.

“I told them to keep playing hard,” Poplar Bluff coach Will Durden said. “Third quarter we didn’t finish at the rim and we let our offense dictate what we did on defense. But I thought they came out with a lot more energy in the fourth quarter.”

Brendan Durden did a good job of waking up the Mules — and for that matter the whole gym — as he rattled the basket with a dunk to open the Mules’ fourth quarter run.

“(Brendan’s dunk) was definitely a momentum swing,” coach Durden said. “In the third quarter, everything was rolling out of the basket and it was kind of deflating. That really picked the team up.”

The basket wasn’t even done shaking yet when Jay Edmundson displayed some heads-up basketball as he stole the inbound pass, made the layup, got fouled in the process — then converted the and-1 opportunity for an old-fashioned three-point play.

A minute and a half later after both teams traded blows, the Mules found Dallas Williams in the corner and he hit the 3-point bucket to tie it up at 44 with a little over five minutes remaining. Brendan Durden then made sure his guys were in front as he threw down another dunk to give the Mules the lead.

Knowing no lead is safe, Poplar Bluff’s defense went on lockdown as the Mules went on a 10-0 run in a three-minute span before Urbana found the bottom of the net again. The Tigers didn’t give up as they were able to cut the lead down to four on a too-little-too-late shot at the final buzzer.

When it was all said and done, Brendan Durden led the Mules (5-3) with 19 points — 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter. Sammy Durden was also in double figures with 14 points.

With the first-round win, the Mules will face Izard County from northern Arkansas in the semifinals Friday evening as the Showdown gives the Mules a chance to face some out-of-state opponents each year.

“It’s really fun to watch as a coach,” coach Durden said. “You have all these different coaches, different athletes coming in with different styles. Izard is a good team — they have a real big kid that will test us defensively.”

Izard County beat McCracken County, Kentucky 58-54 to start the first night of the Showdown. Then Vashon came down from St. Louis and blew out Trinity Christian Academy of Jackson, Tennessee 78-43. To cap off the night, after the Mules game Kansas City Staley handled Maumelle, Arkansas 75-66.

The semifinal between Poplar Bluff and Izard County will tip off at 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by Vashon and Staley at 8:30 p.m. In the consolation bracket, Maumelle and Trinity Christian will play each other at 4 p.m. on Friday, while Urbana will face McCracken County at 5:30 p.m.

The tournament comes to a close on Saturday.