Central boys basketball team upends Poplar Bluff in SEMO Conference showdown

Of all the momentous shifts in Friday night's SEMO Conference boys basketball game between the Central Tigers and Poplar Bluff Mules, none was more pivotal than when the Tigers watched their double-digit lead vanish in a matter of less than four minutes.

A flurry of turnovers allowed the Mules to put together a 15-2 run and cut Central's lead to one point with 2:23 remaining in the game, but the Tigers knocked down eight consecutive free throws to extend their lead and hang on for a 71-66 victory at Central High School.

"That was a physical war tonight, and [Poplar Bluff is] a good team," Central coach Drew Church said. "... It was a good team win, but I think we showed some toughness, too, with some things. We kind of handled some adversity. ... These guys early in the season, they would have wilted. They would have wilted, and Bluff would have won that game. But just getting the ball where it needed to be, getting to the free-throw line, making your free throws, I just think we're not where we need to be yet, but we're coming along. They're getting there."

Central (15-4, 1-1 SEMO Conference) secured the lead for good with 5:08 remaining in the first quarter, when Al Young scored his first points of the game on a layup.

Young's basket sparked a 9-2 run for the Tigers before Poplar Bluff coach Will Durden called a timeout with 2:40 remaining in the opening period.

"We looked pretty good out there warming up, but Cape came out and played," Durden said. "They ran it down our throats in transition and were more physical than us on the offensive boards. We just didn't stop them. It wasn't anything to do with our offense. We just played probably our worst game this year on defense. It was mainly because Cape was aggressive. They attacked the basket, and we just didn't stop them."

Central led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter, during which Young scored 10 of his game-high 32 points. Young finished the game 88 percent (14 of 16) from the field.

Central's Chase Hagerty fights against Poplar Bluff's Patrick Tillman for possession in the third quarter Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

"What we're doing is we're starting to understand everybody's strengths and weaknesses," Church said. "We know Al is good in transition, so we get him the ball. And we know in half-court to make him slow down. They're starting to figure out who has strengths at certain times. Chase Hagerty had a heck of a game. ... [Kway'Chon Chisom], he grew up tonight. Having to handle the ball a lot, he gained some confidence. This was just a good game for us."

With 4:56 remaining in the first half, Durden called another timeout after Young scored on a reverse layup that capped a 10-3 run for the Tigers and extended their lead to 29-16.

Poplar Bluff (14-3, 1-1) shot 8 of 25 (32 percent) from the floor in the first half and trailed 35-23 at the break.

"They played with kind of a chip on their shoulder, like they had something to prove, and they took us out of what we wanted to do," Durden said about Central's defense. "We got the same shots we've been getting all year. It was just that we didn't respond well when we missed. When we missed a shot, we took two plays off on defense, and they took advantage of it.

"It was more what Cape did than what we did. We didn't play very good, but Cape just played great."

The Tigers faced their first true test in the opening minutes of the second half.

Central fans watch a free throw attempt in the fourth quarter against Poplar Bluff Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

Central senior Andre Statam was called for a charge at the 5:28 mark of the third quarter. Straddled with his fourth foul, the 6-foot-6 senior was forced to watch from the bench as his team protected a nine-point lead.

A basket by Joseph Eyler and a 3-pointer by Willie Lucas pulled the Mules within four points at 38-34, but the Tigers closed the quarter on an 11-4 run, capped by an off-balance 3-pointer from Young as time expired. Central led 49-38 at the end of the period.

"When I'm out, my team backs me up," said Statam, who had a double-double with 19 points and 17 rebounds. "They held on until I could come back in the end."

Church was pleased with how his players responded in Statam's absence.

"Andre going down early in that third quarter, our kids could have said, 'That's our senior leader' and wilted, but we had some guys step up and battle," Church said. "For the first few possessions, they were getting a lot of offensive rebounds, and we did a lot better job with our smaller guys of finding a body and going after it. ... I thought the difference in the [second half] was that we were a little stronger. Those balls that were getting tipped were fouls because we were a little stronger with the ball, when earlier they weren't because we were pretty weak."

Central out-rebounded Poplar Bluff 36-27 but held the Mules' leading scorer, Chris Stocks, to only 17 points. Stocks was the difference-maker for the Mules in the two teams' previous meeting at the conference tournament in December, when he scored 32 points and led Poplar Bluff to a 79-69 first-round win.

"Chris Stocks, he's a good shooter, so we had to get out on him," Statam said. "That was just our emphasis the whole week, get out on Stocks."

Patrick Tillman led the Mules in scoring with 18 points. Eyler had 11 points, and Lucas finished with 10 points for Poplar Bluff.

"I challenged the guys to get out and play a little tougher on defense, play with a little more intensity. That's probably how we should have started the game, but we fought our way back," Durden said. "We just made some miscues down late. We had opportunities to tie the game or get a little closer, but then we missed a couple layups and didn't guard on the other end. We just played a poor game on defense, and that's really why we lost."

The Tigers finished 22 of 46 (48 percent) shooting from the floor. Church said he liked how his team controlled the tempo of the game.

"We've done a pretty good job lately, and we've had to because we've had a crazy hard schedule," Church said. "We need to have a combination of transition when it's there, and when it's not, we want to slow it down and run some offense. The worst thing we can do is take a quick shot and not have to make them guard. I thought we did a good job tonight dictating the tempo of the game. They tried to speed us up in the half-court, and I thought we did a pretty good job slowing down."

Poplar Bluff 13 10 15 26 -- 66

Central 19 16 14 22 -- 71

POPLAR BLUFF (66) -- Patrick Tillman 18, Chris Stocks 17, Joseph Eyler 11, Willie Lucas 10, Abiodun Francis 6, Malik Metcalf 4. FG 23-61, FT 12-14, F 25. (3-pointers: Stocks 3, Tillman 2, Lucas 1, Metcalf 1, Eyler 1. Fouled out: Tillman.)

CENTRAL (71) -- Al Young 32, Andre Statam 19, Chase Hagerty 8, Kway'Chon Chisom 5, Nikylus Thompson 4, Peyton Montgomery 3. FG 22-46, FT 24-37, F 12. (3-pointers: Young 2, Statam 1. Fouled out: none.)