Dominique Hardimon stepped to the free-throw line without his goggles after they were knocked off his face and broke Saturday.
"Really can't see nothing," the Poplar Bluff junior said. "It's all blurry."
Hardimon knocked down one of two free throws and later returned off the bench with his goggles taped up.
It was a temporary setback.
Hardimon scored a career-high 31 points and recorded his 11th career double-double with 10 rebounds in Poplar Bluff's 70-36 win over Osceola (Ark.) at the Senior High Gym.
"I think we did pretty good," Hardimon said. "We did good, just got to work on a lot of stuff."
The Mules jumped out to a 22-5 lead in the opening quarter and wore down a short-handed Osceola team that dressed only seven players. The Seminoles football team advanced to the Arkansas 3A quarterfinals Friday night with a 41-20 win.
Poplar Bluff didn't allow Osceola to reach 40 points by dominating the boards 35-18 and forcing 21 turnovers.
"Not bad. Did better than I expected," Mules coach William Durden said. "Overall it was a good experience for us. That doesn't happen a whole lot the first game of the year."
Rodney Houston and Xander Martin each scored eight points while freshman Joseph Hardimon added seven off the bench.
Dominique Hardimon scored the first four points of the game on consecutive possessions. On a drive through the lane he had his goggles knocked off as he was fouled. After sinking the first free throw he missed the second but Houston came away with the rebound and scored.
Carlton McDonald hit a corner 3 off a pass from senior Adrian Webb before Nik Rowland's kick-out pass set up a 3 by Joseph Hardimon for a 13-2 Mules advantage.
"Last year it was almost we shot the ball sometimes too quick or we shot the ball without a pass," Durden said. "All over the summer and the first part of the year that's been our emphasis in practice -- making the extra pass and getting the better shot."
The Mules, who had nine players score, shot 57.1 percent from the field, including 5 of 15 from 3-point range.
Tyler Cline's 3 in the closing seconds of the first quarter put the Mules up 22-5. They pushed the margin to 33-6 on a putback by Dominique Hardimon with 5 1/2 minutes left in the half.
Osceola, which was led by Makai Caruthers' 13 points, put together an 11-1 run. But the Seminoles were down 22 when senior guard Joseph Thomas picked up a technical foul and was ejected. Down to one sub on the bench, another technical foul gave Zion Spears four fouls.
In between the technical fouls, Nik Rowland threw down a dunk, flying past a defender in the lane.
"Nix's a really good jumper when you give him a step," Durden said. "That was a nice play. He passed up a couple. He's played really unselfish and I'm glad he actually got selfish on that one."
The Mules, who led 46-21 at halftime, will travel Friday to Corinth, Mississippi for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff before the SEMO Conference Tournament on December 4. Poplar Bluff is the fifth seed and will play Cape Central at 5:30 p.m. in the opening round.