Jackson boys basketball team beats Poplar Bluff to reach district title game

The Jackson boys basketball team got off to a great start in its Class 5 District 1 semifinal against Poplar Bluff on Wednesday at Central.

The Indians made five of the first eight 3-pointers they attempted on their way to building a double-digit lead early in the second quarter, which coach Darrin Scott naturally was pleased about at the time.

"Almost in a way, though, to be honest, I think it got us off to a good start, but then it kind of shot us in the foot a little bit because we became really quick on offense and that kind of led into some of our troubles," Scott said. "We became faster and took quick shots and never got to where we ran offense and took care of it and got the ball where it needed to be."

Jackson overcame its second-quarter troubles to defeat the Mules 62-49. The Indians will face Central in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Jackson's win was a reversal of the result from the last time the teams met, a 58-42 win by Poplar Bluff on Jan. 18.

Jackson's Caleb Newcomer is fouled by Poplar Bluff's Joey Bloodworth during the second quarter Wednesday at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"It's not so much what we changed, it's what we had to be mentally ready for," Jackson senior Bobby Clark said. "We had to be ready for their pressure. It seemed like every time we'd make a run, they'd turn up the pressure and they'd make a little run. So we just had to handle that and we had to make free throws. We knew what we had to do coming in and we did it pretty well in the second half."

The Mules made a couple of runs at the Indians on Wednesday as well. After Jackson raced out to a 17-6 lead to start the game thanks to some hot shooting, Poplar Bluff went on a 10-0 run and eventually tied the game 19-19 at halftime.

Jackson (15-10) scored just five points in the second quarter, and Clark was held scoreless in the first half.

"In that first half, there were so many times where we came down one or two passes and took a shot," Scott said. "In the second half, we did a much better job of actually getting into the offense where [Clark] had a chance to touch it some."

Clark drained a 3 for his first points of the game with five minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter. He finished with a game-high 18 points.

"We slowed down on offense -- we got into offense," Clark said. "In the second quarter, we didn't get into offense real well. They kind of turned up the pressure on their press and we didn't get a whole lot of shots and we turned the ball over a little bit. We were going pretty fast, and then in the third and fourth quarter, we got into some offense and we got the ball where we needed to get, and I caught the ball in the middle a couple times and made some shots."

Poplar Bluff made one more run in the third quarter, pulling to within three points with just about a minute to go in the period. But Jackson senior Tyler Rhodes made a 3 on the Indians' next possession and the Mules never got that close again.

"I thought when they did make a run, we were fortunate enough to score and make some more shots to pull back ahead," Scott said. "It sounds simple, but when they made a run then we got two or three stops and we scored to push our lead back up."

Junior Caleb Newcomer finished with 17 points for Jackson and made 5 of his 6 free-throw attempts in the closing minutes to help secure the win.

"I wasn't stroking it all," Newcomer said about his free-throw shot. "They were just sliding in. I was just glad they were falling."

Jackson and Central split two meeting this season. Jackson won 44-41 in the semifinals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament while Central won a Feb. 9 rematch 68-50.

The teams met in the district semifinals last season, a game Jackson won 62-60 in double overtime before claiming the title in a win over Poplar Bluff.

Scott said matching the excitement of that thrilling contest would be difficult.

"We'll have to play well to have that because they're a really good team," he said. "Coach Church does a great job. They're going to be ready to play. It's at their place, so for us to compete, we're going to have to definitely bring our best game and play really well."

Jackson 14 5 21 22 -- 62

Poplar Bluff 6 13 12 16 -- 49

JACKSON (62) -- Caleb Newcomer 17, Tyler Rhodes 9, Zach McDowell 6, Bobby Clark 18, Brad Clary 5, John Meyer 7. FG 21, FT 11-16, F 10. (3-pointers: Newcomer 4, Rhodes 3, McDowell 1, Clark 1. Fouled out: Newcomer)

POPLAR BLUFF (49) -- Michael Griggs 13, Kendric McCain 3, Damarcus Patterson 3, Issiah Anders 13, Nick Shrum 1, Jake White 14. FG 17, FT 8-17, F 15. Fouled out: none)