Sikeston holds off Poplar Bluff's late rally to spoil Mules homecoming

Trailing by 15 points midway through the fourth quarter, the Poplar Bluff Mules staged a furious rally Friday night.

Sikeston held on with six free throws in the final 19 seconds after its lead was cut to a single point as the Mules fell short 103-96 in front of a standing-room only homecoming crowd at the Senior High Gym.

“Not a whole lot of defense,” Mules coach William Durden said. “And I felt like we were trying our hardest to guard.

“…For the fans it’s a great game to watch but from the coaches’ standpoint, both of us are like ‘we have to stop somebody.’”

Dominique Hardimon scored 22 of his game-high 36 points in the second half for the Mules (14-4, 3-2 SEMO). Josiah Kilgore provided the fourth-quarter spark with nine of his 16 points while Kendrick Brown chipped in 12 points off the bench. Nik Rowland had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds after escorting the queen prior to the game.

Owen Long knocked down five 3-pointers in the first half for the Bulldogs (18-0, 5-0). He finished with 26 points but had just one basket and two free throws after halftime.

“We guarded him like we were suppose to guard him at the beginning of the game,” Durden said. “We were suppose to have a guy try to deny the ball from him and he just kept getting open the first half and he lit us up.

“He made some tough shots, made all of his open shots.”

Parker Long scored 11 fourth-quarter points and ended up with 19 for Sikeston, Payton Howard hit a pair of fourth-quarter 3s in scoring 18 points while Kevin Jones scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter.

Sikeston, the top-ranked team in Class 4, took a 73-66 lead into the fourth after the teams traded long runs in the third.

“We knew what we were going to get when we play them,” Durden said. “We just wanted to shorten their runs and we didn’t tonight.”

Parker Long’s 3-pointer gave Sikeston a 86-71 lead, it’s larget lead of the night, before Carlton McDonald answered with a 3 for the Mules.

Howard’s 3-pointer again pushed the margin to 15 with 3:40 to play.

Just over a minute later it was a two-possession game after the Mules scored 10 straight.

Kilgore started with a layin but missed a foul shot for the three-point play. Tyler Cline then did the same but Poplar Bluff came away with the rebound and Cline scored again.

Following a steal by McDonald, Kilgore again scored as he was fouled but missed a free throw to cut into the lead. He finished the run with a baseline drive to pull the Mules within 89-84 with 2:35 left.

Over the last four minutes, Poplar Bluff missed eight free throws while the Bulldogs knocked down 14 of 18.

Three of those Poplar Bluff misses, however, ended up in the hands of a Mules player helping them cut into the deficit.

Down nine with 65 seconds left, Rowland came away with an offensive rebound off a free throw and Brown was fouled shooting a 3. He sank all three free throws and later hit two more with 34 seconds left to cut Siketon’s lead to 97-94.

Following an empty trip to the line by the Bulldogs, Hardimon scored to make it a one-point game with 20 seconds left.

Parker Long sank two foul shots and Cline’s corner three missed before two more foul shots by Howard.

“They did what they needed to do to win the ballgame,” Durden said. “I can’t fault our kids’ effort. They fought and fought their way back and hopefully we can get better. We need to get better.”

The Mules trailed early before Hardimon got a steal and dunked on the other end. Cline sank a 3-pointer in transition for an 8-6 advantage. Hardimon later scored off a pass from Xander Martin and added a 3-pointer from the sideline half a minute later for a seven-point lead.

Following a putback by Hardimon, Owen Long answered with a 3-pointer before Jaylen Lathon found an open lane to the basket. Sikeston, however, ended the quarter on an 11-4 run.

Long knocked down a corner 3 with a hand in his face to give the Bulldogs a 22-21 lead heading into the second quarter.

Long capped a 12-3 Sikeston run with a steal and layin for a 40-31 lead that later reached 10 on Tra Ranson’s pull-up jumper.

Sikeston led 49-40 at halftime but the Mules rallied with a 10-2 run. Hardimon sank a corner 3 to start it and finished it with another before a putback cut the deficit to 58-54 at the 4:06 mark of the third.

Sikeston, however, scored the next eight points.

“We did enough stuff to lose the game but our kids fought back,” Durden said. “We could have laid down four different times in that ballgame and they never quit.”

__Notes:__

The 96 points were the most by a Mules team since a 95-83 win over Caruthersville in Jan. 2017.

All four of Poplar Bluff’s losses have come against ranked Class 4 teams.

In the junior varsity game, Chance Campbell scored 16 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Mules won 83-74.