February 4, 2015
NMCC stung by Poplar Bluff in SEMO Conference clash
sports@standard-democrat.com NEW MADRID -- New Madrid County Central once again felt the sting of an unforgiving conference schedule. Four nights prior, Poplar Bluff did too. Just goes to show no team is safe when it comes to the SEMO Conference even if you are the defending conference champion...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
NEW MADRID -- New Madrid County Central once again felt the sting of an unforgiving conference schedule.
Four nights prior, Poplar Bluff did too.
Just goes to show no team is safe when it comes to the SEMO Conference even if you are the defending conference champion.
Poplar Bluff handed NMCC a crushing 84-50 defeat on Tuesday behind stellar offensive outputs from seniors Chris Stocks and Patrick Tillman. The Mules also held NMCC to it's third lowest scoring total this season.
"We knew they beat us before and we wanted to come out and play," Stocks said. "We wanted to be really aggressive and we kind of had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. We knew we didn't play very well the first time we played them, shots weren't falling and we weren't really sharing the ball like we usually do. Today, we came out and played better. We spread the floor, made good passes and knocked down our shots for the most part."
Tuesday marked New Madrid's second SEMO Conference loss and third defeat overall. They hold a 4-2 conference record which includes a loss to Notre Dame.
Poplar Bluff (16-3) moves to 2-1 in the conference with their lone conference loss coming at the hands of Cape Central last Friday. They also avenged an earlier season defeat to NMCC during the SEMO Conference Tournament championship game in early December.
"I think our kid's mentality was a little bit different," Durden said, about facing NMCC since its first meeting at the SEMO Conference Tournament. "I think a couple months ago our kids weren't ready for New Madrid's physical play and they also didn't know if they could play in the SEMO Conference finals."
Tuesday night's game was a mirror image of NMCC's first home loss of the season against Notre Dame. The Eagles shot 28 percent from the floor (16 of 57) which included 1 for 14 from 3-point range. Against Notre Dame, NMCC was 22 percent from the field which brought back the same sentiment for New Madrid County Central head coach Travis Day.
"We let shots not falling for us dictate how we played. You can't do that," Day said. "We put ourselves in a hole and got in a funk that we just couldn't get out of. A good team's not going to let you get out of it and that's what they did."
Contrary to their first meeting, NMCC, who had its eight-game winning streak halted, had two players reach double figures on Tuesday led by all-state senior Willie Jimerson's 26 and sophomore Javarcus Word's 12. Senior Asten Newsom, who battled illness and foul trouble, was held to four points while the rest of the Eagles' lineup mustered eight points.
"(Jimerson) still scored at will, but I think the difference tonight is that the other guys didn't score," Durden said, referring to their first meeting with NMCC. "The first night we played them they had guys jumping up and knocking down shots. Their other guys were playing with a lot of confidence and I think Newsom being a little under the weather and getting those quick fouls really helped us and it went in our favor because he killed us on the offensive board last time and he snuck around and waited for those passes from Word and Jimerson and he finished them. That definitely helped us swing the momentum in our favor when he went out."
Back to back 3-pointers from Stocks and Tillman gave Poplar Bluff a 12-8 lead with 1:49 left in the first quarter and the Mules never looked back.
Poplar Bluff led 16-10 going into the second then a 17-point quarter from Stocks, which included a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to cap a flurry of six-straight points to end the half, gave the Mules a comfy 42-28 advantage.
"With Stocks you just try to limit his touches," Day said. "When you get Tillman knocking down long shots and the other guys getting confidence and they're knocking down shots, now you're in a war. We gave those guys confidence and the outcome is what you get."
Things got hairier for NMCC to start the second half when Poplar Bluff opened the third quarter with a 12-3 run. Tillman led the pack this time with 18 points in the third quarter which included two 3-pointers, a perfect 4 for 4 performance at the free throw line and drives to the basket.
Poplar Bluff outscored NMCC 36-15 in the third quarter leading to a 78-43 advantage. The Eagles fell behind by as many as 37 points in the fourth.
"We play team ball and we know if one person is off, other people are going to step up," said Stocks. "That's the best part about our team. We have guys that can help contribute when other guys are having off nights."
Not many of Poplar Bluff's guys had off nights. As a team, Poplar Bluff shot 24 for 49 (48 percent) and 8 for 18 from 3-point range.
"It's probably our best offensive half so far," Stocks said about the first half. "We took the shots that they were giving us. We were reacting to their defense and were able to get good looks and knock them down."
Stocks, who became Poplar Bluff's seventh player in history to score 1,000 points in a career last week, led his team with 26 points on 9 of 17 shooting and also had seven rebounds. Tillman ended with 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting. Willie Lucas led the Mules with 10 rebounds and two blocks along with his 12 points.
"SEMO Conference is rough. It's brutal," Durden said. "We're still in for a brutal stretch. We've got a Sikeston team that's playing really well right now and Notre Dame for our homecoming and we've seen what they're capable of. I love coaching in this conference. I think it's the best conference in the state. Hopefully, we'll get a couple more wins in it."
Jimerson also led NMCC with nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Poplar Bluff out-rebounded the Eagles 30-29.
"The hole shrunk for us and got humongous for them," said Day. "We still have to find ways to succeed when things aren't going your way. We let the way that ball bounced around for us dictate how we played, especially defensively. We can't do that.
"It will be a long, sleepless night trying to figure this thing out," Day added. "I'm proud of our guys being 18-3, but I didn't like the way we played. I told our seniors that we have four more chances to right this boat. We do this Feb. 21 and I'm telling them 'Thanks for the year'. Hopefully, we'll learn from this, build on this and get better as we finish the season out."
Poplar Bluff 16 26 36 6 -- 84
NMCC 10 18 15 7 -- 50
POPLAR BLUFF (84) -- Elijah Dawson 6, Joseph Eyler 2, Malik Metcalf 2, Patrick Tillman 24, Abiodun Francis 2, Tristen Francisco 2, Willie Lucas 12, Chris Stocks 26, Brandon Stuckenschneider 5, Collin Steffens 2, Tyler Norton 1. FG 24, FT 28-34, F 22. (3-pointers: Tillman 4, Stocks 3, Stuckenschneider 1. Fouled out: none.)
NMCC (50) -- Willie Jimerson 26, Mikael Walker 2, Kiel Causey 3, Javarcus Word 12, Drew Palmer 1, Asten Newsom 4, Vontre Jones 2. FG 16, FT 17-30, F 28. (3-pointers: Word 1. Fouled out: TJ Clark.)
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