And now the Mules will rest.
With their postseason set to begin a week from Tuesday, the Mules closed out the regular season Saturday afternoon with another strong finish to beat Jefferson City 67-62 at the Senior High Gym.
The Mules (16-8) pulled away in the fourth quarter with a 14-2 run, similar to what they did Thursday night to beat state-ranked Charleston.
"We got out in transition, we finally started dictating on defense," Mules coach William Durden said. "We got some transition buckets."
There were 10 lead changes and eight ties with neither team leading by more than five until the Mules pulled away in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Jefferson City (11-10) took a 50-48 lead with 6:15 to play but Carlton McDonald stepped into a 3-pointer to put the Mules ahead for good.
Dominique Hardimon came down with a defensive rebound and scored on the other end with a coast-to-coast run before a turnover by the Jays. Tyler Cline splashed in a 3 then got a steal near the sideline, stayed in bounds and scored on a layup for a 10th straight point by the Mules.
"He had a stretch run where he was playing really hard," Durden said of Cline, who scored five of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. "He kind of kick-started that run for us."
Brennan Jeffries interrupted Poplar Bluff's run with a tough basket on a drive but Joseph Hardimon got a putback of a missed 3 and Dominique Hardimon got another coast-to-coast run after a defensive rebound for a 62-52 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left.
Hardimon scored a game-high 24 points while freshman Joseph Hardimon scored half of his eight points in the fourth quarter. Rodney Houston added seven points and a team-high nine rebounds while Nik Rowland scored all six of his points in the second quarter.
Duson Nilges led the Jays with 22 points, sinking six 3-pointers, while Jeffries added 10.
The teams combined for five technical fouls, four by the Mules.
One was for having a sixth player on the court after a timeout in the third quarter. Cline and Adrian Webb were issued technicals in the first quarter while Rowland fouled out with a one at the 3-minute mark of the fourth.
Down 10, the Jays only sank 1 of 4 foul shots and then turned the ball over. In all, Jefferson City was 19 of 26 at the line.
"I thought we lost our cool there in the stretch and we've got to get better than that," Durden said.
The Mules were fortunate none of them picked up a second technical, which would have meant missing the postseason opener.
Poplar Bluff earned the top seed in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 tournament at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill. The Mules will play the winner of Northwest and Fox at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27. The winner advances to the championship game set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1.
"We're going to watch some film and we need to heal up," Durden said. "We've got some kids that have some injuries, have a couple of kids that are sick. We really wanted game during this stretch. We needed this."
Junior guard Xander Martin missed his fourth game with an ankle injury while the rest of the team played for the fifth time in nine days.
Poplar Bluff led 15-12 after one quarter before Dominique Hardimon's turn-around jumper to open the second. The Mules missed chances to extend their lead, including a pair of one-and-one foul shots.
Nilges sank a 3 to tie the game at 17-all and later hit another to cap a 10-2 run. The Jays led by four before Poplar Bluff got consecutive baskets by Rowland to regain the lead.
The teams were tied at 30-all at halftime and again four times during the third quarter. Nilges sank a 3 with a minute left to give Jefferson City a 47-44 lead heading into the fourth.
"We let what was happening on the offensive end dictate what we were doing throughout the game," Durden said.
Poplar Bluff's junior varsity team ended its season 10-8 following a 60-50 loss.