Central boys basketball team falls to Poplar Bluff in conference tourney opener

Four consecutive steals in the middle of the fourth quarter allowed the seventh-seeded Poplar Bluff Mules to push their lead to 11 points before hanging on to upset the second-seeded Central Tigers 79-69 in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Tournament on Monday night at Sikeston High School.

"Bluff's just better than us right now, period. ... They're well coached. They're good basketball players, and they were better than us tonight," Central coach Drew Church said. "They whooped us, period."

The Tigers (3-1) led early in the game, but the Mules (4-1) took the lead for good at 10-9 with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter.

Central cut its deficit to three points near the end of the first half and went into halftime trailing 34-32.

"Bluff put the pressure on us early," Church said. "They made some shots early, and they're really good at spreading the ball out and taking care of the ball. Offensively, we were kind of stagnant tonight."

Nikylus Thompson hit a pair of free throws to cut Poplar Bluff's lead to 56-55 with 5:47 left in the third quarter.

Andre Statam led the Tigers in scoring with a game-high 33 points, while Al Young contributed 17.

"I thought the effort was good," Church said. "Our effort's not bad. We're just not in sync, and we're not really sure who's supposed to be where or who's supposed to take the shot or where we're supposed to go. We're just not in sync yet."

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Willie Lucas drained a 3-pointer for the Mules on a pass from Abiodun Francis.

Francis stole the Tigers' inbound pass and dished the ball back to Lucas, who was fouled and hit both of his free throws.

Poplar Bluff was led in scoring by Chris Stocks, who finished with 32 points on four treys. Lucas added 11 points.

Central's Al Young drives past Poplar Bluff's Patrick Tillman during the first quarter of a first-round game in the SEMO Conference tournament Monday, Dec. 8, 2014 in Sikeston, Missouri. (FRED LYNCH)

"We've got to do a better job of handling the ball, especially in crucial times like that," Church said. "I don't want to use the practice excuse, but we need to practice. We've got a lot of guys right now that are going a little too fast. They're kind of still in football mode, and we've got to get on the floor and practice not only ball-handling but also situations where we're having to deal with pressure."

The Mules will take on sixth-seeded Charleston at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the conference semifinals.

The Bluejays defeated third-seeded Sikeston 79-78 on Monday.

Meanwhile, Central returns to action at 8:30 p.m. today against ninth-seeded Dexter, which lost to eighth-seeded Kennett 47-39 on Monday.

"This is where we were last year," Church said. "It's kind of a similar situation. Bluff's a good team. They came in and whooped you. Now how are you going to react to it?

"We need desperately to get some practice time, and it just so happens we've got to play seven games in about a week and a half. We're going to have to push through this and give it some effort, and hopefully next week we can get some stuff done in practice."

Poplar Bluff 21 13 18 27 -- 79

Central 13 19 17 20 -- 69

Poplar Bluff (79) -- Chris Stocks 32, Willie Lucas 13, Brandon Stuckenschneider 8, Malik Metcalf 8, Patrick Tillman 8, Joseph Eyler 7, Abiodun Francis 3. FG 22, FT 26-34, F 21. (3-pointers: Stocks 4, Lucas 2, Stuckenschneider 2, Tillman 1. Fouled out: Francis)

Central (69) -- Andre Statam 33, Al Young 17, Chase Hagerty 6, Kway'chon Chisom 5, Peyton Montgomery 4, Nikylus Thompson 2, Jalen Reddin 2. FG 23, FT 20-25, F 25. (3-pointers: Statam 2, Young 1. Fouled out: Thompson)