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Bluejays suffer 70-44 loss to Poplar Bluff, lose SEMO Conference title in the process
CHARLESTON -- Despite Tuesday's letdown against Cape Central, the Charleston Bluejays still entered the final game of regular season controlling their own destiny in the SEMO Conference.
A win Friday night against Poplar Bluff would guarantee Charleston at least a share of the conference crown for the third straight year with Jackson controlling the other half.
While the Indians were able to take care of business against Kennett, the Bluejays never left the starting gate in a 70-44 romp by the Mules.
"We're not focused and didn't come ready to play," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "It's bad when you have a chance to share for the conference if you win and don't come ready to play. I've been around for 30 years and when you do that you get full of yourself and don't realize what it took to get 18 wins.
"If we don't remember it with districts getting ready to start then we won't play very long. We have to work on the mental aspect."
In hindsight, Friday's contest had all the makings of an upset. Not only were the Mules celebrating senior night, they took a double-digit lead into the final minutes in the two teams' last meeting in the SEMO Conference Tournament.
It took a 40-point effort from junior Delfincko Bogan to stop that upset with the Bluejays erasing an 11-point third quarter deficit to win 79-67. In that contest, the consoltatiion championship, Bogan scored 23 points in the fourth quarter alone and 31 in the second half.
This time around Poplar Bluff made Bogan one of their primary targets, holding the junior to 10 points on 3 of 21 (14 percent) shooting. He was 3 of 15 inside the arc and missed on all six 3-point attempts.
"We wanted to lock in on Del and (Shandor) Webster," Mules' head coach Will Durden said. "They both hurt us their last game. Del took over the last game late when we were up 11. He just absolutely took over and Webster carried them until Del took over.
"Today we wanted to key in on both of those guys and make the other guys beat us. Our guys did a great job executing our game plan."
Not only did Poplar Bluff hold Bogan and Webster in check (the two combined for 23 points), but they won the battle in both shooting and the boards.
They shot 29 of 56 (51.8percent) from the field to the Bluejays' 12 of 56 (21.4 percent) and went 8 of 14 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range compared to Charleston's 3 of 15 (20 percent). The Mules out-rebounded Charleston 40-28 and never trailed in the contest.
"We've been practicing hard and to see the fruits of our labor out there against one of the better teams in the state feels good," Durden said. "We executed everything that we wanted to that we were going over in practice tonight. This is really one of the first games we've done it all year."
After a scoreless first two minutes by both sides senior Ryan Brittingham put his team on top for good with a 3-pointer at the 5:31 mark in the first quarter. His shot started an 11-2 run by the Mules, who led 17-10 entering the second period.
Charleston hung within eight points midway through the quarter only to see Poplar Bluff close out the half on a 13-4 run to take a 17-point lead into the break.
Poplar Bluff opned the second half with back-to-back baskets by Mark Metcalf and Chris Stocks to keep rolling and take their first 20-plus point advantage at 41-20.
That 21-point lead remained intact entering the fourth quarter. A natural 3-pointer from Charleston's Robert Bogan to open the period briefly closed it, but four minutes to play the Mules were back on top 61-40.
A 6-2 Poplar Bluff run pulled them ahead by 25 points, 67-42, with 44 second to play and Brittingham 3-pointer at the buzzer capped the Mules' night.
"We didn't have (that energy) tonight whatsoever," Farmer said. "They outplayed us. We don't understand the reason we were 6-0 in the conference is because we were playing hard every night. It's not because we were a better team.
"I know this is a very good team, I've been watching them all year. Bluff is a very good team. I think they're better than we are."
Charleston (18-7, 6-2) was led by Webster, who had 13 points, four rebounds and three assist while going 7 of 9 at the foul line. Bogan added six rebounds and two assists to his 10 point effort and Michael Kellum finished with nine points.
As a team the Bluejays shot 17 of 30 (56.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
For Poplar Bluff (12-12, 3-4), Stocks had a game-high 16 points with Brittinghamd and Stacy Gipson scoring 11 points each. The Mules got at least a bucket from nine different players and hit on 4 of 7 (57 percent) free throw attempts.
"We've been doing that all year," Durden said of the balanced scoring. "When we have a guy that just goes off and does something the rest of the guys are just standing and looking. We don't play as a team. When these kids don't care about who scores we're at our best."
He added, "It's great fore the seniors to go out on a win," Durden said. "To beat a team they haven't beat ever in their career on their last senior night. It feels great.
We've been doing that all year. When we have a guy that just goes off and does something the rest of the guys are just standing and looking. We don't play as a team. When we're playing as a team and working the ball. When these kids don't care about who scores we're at our best.
Charleston finishes the regular season with second place in the SEMO Conference with Jackson's 63-42 rout of Kennett on Friday giving them the regular season conference title to go along with their conference tournament championship.
| Charleston | 10 | 10 | 13 | 11 | -- | 44 |
| Poplar Bluff | 17 | 20 | 17 | 16 | -- | 70 |
CHARLESTON (44) -- Robert Bogan 5, Delfincko Bogan 10, Demontrail Clark 3, Shandor Webster 13, Ja-Mael Nelson 4, Michael Kellum 9. FG 12, FT 17-30, F 14. (3-pointers: Clark 1, Kellum 2. Fouled out: none.)
POPLAR BLUFF (70) -- Joseph Eyler 3, Malik Metcalf 6, Patrick Tillman 5, Lucas Tibbs 6, Ryan Brittingham 11, Stacy Gipson 11, Brandon Stuckenschneider 9, Chris Stocks 16, Shannon Woods 4. FG 29, FT 4-7, F 24. (3-pointers: Brittingham 3, Stuckenschneider 3, Stocks 2. Fouled out: Stuckenschneider.)