Hot shooting Green Wave snaps Portageville win streak

Saturday, January 21, 2017
Portageville's Chris Garmon puts up a shot against Malden on Friday at Malden High School. (Brent Shipman/Standard Democrat)

MALDEN, Mo -- With a four-game winning streak and conference implications on the line Portageville suffered a letdown Friday night against host Malden.

A brief lead early by the Bulldogs gave way to a game controlled by the Green Wave, who outscored Portageville in all four quarters for a 70-51 win.

"I just feel like we didn't show up tonight," Bulldogs' head coach Jason Irby said. "We were pretty excited about this game the last couple days. It was a big opportunity for us to move up in the conference standings before the tournament. We just didn't show up.

"We had a couple good days of practice, but you have to hand it to Malden. They gave us an old-fashioned butt-kicking tonight."

Both teams had plenty to gain from a seeding standpoint Friday as it represented their last Bootheel Conference game before the conference tournament at the end of January.

The win moved Malden to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in the conference while the Portageville fell to 9-7 and 3-3 respectively.

A Luke Darst 3-pointer with 3:29 to play in the first quarter had the Bulldogs up 9-6, but the Green Wave went on a tear soon after, scoring 11 unanswered points going into the second.

Portageville's Ian Torrey puts up a shot against Broddric Annesser on Friday at Malden High School. (Brent Shipman/Standard Democrat)

A small Portageville run kept it a two-possession game with 4:37 left in the half, 18-14, but Malden again closed out the quarter strong.

A Tyler Ison 3-pointer kicked off another 11-0 run and the Green Wave went into the locker room ahead 31-19.

Malden shot 12 of 27 (44 percent), including a stretch where they hit on 8 of 9 attempts. Portageville was 7 of 17 (41 percent) from the floor through two quarters.

"We really kind of turned it on early to middle of the second quarter defensively," Green Wave head coach Andrew Halford said. "We got some stops and were able to get out in transitions and fastbreak to get some easy opportunities to score. That helps us out a ton."

Three straight points by Portageville to start the third quarter closed the gap to nine points, but it was the last time the Bulldogs deficit would reach single digits.

Malden answered with an 8-0 run and by the end of the quarter their lead reached a then-high 19 points at 50-31.

A late fourth quarter run by Portageville kept the turbo-clock from coming into effect, though the Green Wave's advantage reached 27 at one point to ensure there was no chance at a Bulldog comeback.

"They shot it well, killed us on the boards," Irby said. "We couldn't make free throws or layups. Statistically they dominated us and it showed on the scoreboard.

"We've been playing pretty good and that's why we thought we had a good chance, but you have to give it to Malden. They're a good team and they did what they're capable of."

For the Bulldogs, Daniel Carter scored 11 points in the fourth quarter alone to finish with a team-high 15 points. Ian Torrey was close behind with 14 points.

Dushawn Butler led Malden with 17 points, hitting four 3-pointers, three of those in the third quarter alone. Ison finished with 13 points and Chience Booker contributed 10 points.

"Our guys have been good about putting in the practice time to improve," Halford said. "We've seen that over the last week-and-a-half or so translate into the game. It's translated in the biggest way in shooting.

"We shot it very well against Hayti and carried it over to tonight as well."

Portageville9101219-50
Malden17141921-71

PORTAGEVILLE (50) -- Hunter Gates 1, Ro'Mez Mosby 3, Luke Darst 6, Ian Torrey 14, Tony Smith 2, Chris Garmon 6, Daniel Carter 15, Lamar Alexander 3. FG 18, FT 6-15, 12. (3-pointers: Mosby 1, Darst 2, Torrey 2, Carter 3. Fouled out: none.)

MALDEN (71) -- Dushawn Butler 17, Broddric Annesser 2, Tyler Ison 13, Malcolm McBride 6, Trey Stevenson 8, Ned Lee 9, Chience Booker 10, Dylan Dearman 5, Tralyn Hughes 1. FG 28, FT 7-16, F 17. (3-pointers: Butler 4, Ison 1, Stevenson 2, Booker 1. Fouled out: none.)

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