Portageville pulls away in second half to earn win against Redbirds

ELLSINORE — This is the time a team wants to be playing its best basketball and/or establishing a winning mojo.

With the district basketball playoffs set to begin next week, that’s exactly what the East Carter Redbirds hoped to do with the most important winning time just days away.

On Thursday, the Redbirds played host to Portageville and for a while both seemed possible. However, the Bulldogs used a strong second-half push to pull away for a 58-43 win, leading East Carter head coach Jordan Penn to evaluate his team with the season entering the home stretch.

“I thought we turned the corner Tuesday night against Eminence and I thought we had things figured out,” Penn said. “Every time adversity hits us, we react the same way: Frustration with officials, teammates, coach, and the other team. We don’t handle that well right now and until we do, I don’t feel very good about the team we have and playing until we get that in check.

“It’s frustrating to be on the sidelines and coach a team not able to handle their emotions.

Kasen McCarty led East Carter with 16 points while Micah Thompson contributed nine for the team seeded No. 1 in next week’s district tournament in Van Buren.

“We are in a good district where everyone has a chance to win,” Penn said. “We might as well be the sixth seed because we aren’t going to beat anyone until we control our emotions.”

The first quarter saw both teams struggle to close out clean scoring opportunities, but still, the Redbirds were able to stay nose-to-nose with the Bulldogs and trailed 12-7 through eight minutes.

However, Portageville put the clamps down early in the second quarter to go up 19-7 until Micah Thompson drilled a triple to stop the bleeding against his Redbirds.

Despite some overall shooting woes through the first half, East Carter still found itself in a game, trailing at the halftime break.22-18.

“We were down 21-7 and I thought we were done because their M.O. when they get down is to quit,” Penn said. “We made a run and credit to them and got back into it. It’s things like that that give me hope.”

A McCarty banker in the lane pulled East Carter to within 22-20 early in the third quarter and the two teams continued to wage a battle of back-and-forth touche.

However, this time it was the Bulldogs that wrapped a quarter with momentum and a 23-6 run that included a 30-foot buzzer beater to lead 45-26 after three quarters.

“Portageville hits a couple of threes and we are in the same boat: We can’t get out of our own way,” Penn said. “That’s us. If we get out of our way, we got some guys who can play and have talent.”

The fourth quarter boiled down to essentially level play as the two teams played level even as the intensity didn’t waver late.