Mules lose 2 starters, still rally to win pair of games

JACKSON — The Mules suffered two slow starts and two injured starters, but still came away with two wins.

Poplar Bluff beat Lutheran South 73-61 on Friday then Vianney 63-49 on Saturday and has now won three in a row. Both games were at Jackson.

“We just got out to a slow start both nights,” Poplar Bluff coach William Durden said. “The other teams played well. We were playing pretty good defensively, we were just really flat on offense.”

Carlton McDonald-Jordan and Xander Martin both rolled their ankles over the weekend. McDonald got hurt Friday after scoring 14 points and still finished second on the team in scoring against Lutheran South.

Martin went out in the first half against Lutheran South (5-1) on Saturday and had just a missed free throw on the stat sheet.

With the Mules not playing again until the Poplar Bluff Showdown on Dec. 27, Durden is hopeful that they will be healthy.

“We’re definitely going to try to get some guys healthy,” Durden said. “We need to work more on defensive positioning and just some things to work more to take advantage of some of the mismatches we have offensively during games.”

Tyler Cline led Poplar Bluff with 17 points against Vianney (2-5) after making three 3-pointers. Joseph Hardimon, who stepped into the starting lineup with McDonald-Jordan out, had 16 and Dominique Hardimon got 12.

“Everyone who came in stepped into those other guys’ roles,” Durden said.

The Mules trailed 29-24 at halftime before out-scoring Vianney 19-6 in the third quarter and 39-20 in the second half.

Friday’s game was more of the same.

The Mules led 30-28 at halftime and by just three points going into the fourth quarter. In the final eight minutes, though, they outscored Lutheran South 23-14.

Dominique Hardimon had 18 points to lead Poplar Bluff (6-1). Nik Rowland added 13.

For the weekend, Poplar Bluff averaged 27 points in the first half and 41 points in the second half.