SHS cages Tigers

Sunday, February 12, 2006
Sikeston's Michael Porter drives around Central's Darnell Wilks.

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Sikeston Bulldogs won their sixth straight game with an impressive road victory against SEMO Conference rival Cape Central on Friday night, 88-70.

The Bulldogs (15-6, 5-2 SEMO), overcame a nine point first quarter deficit to the emotionally charged Tigers.

The Tigers (12-10, 2-5 SEMO) led 41-39 at halftime but the Bulldogs took control in the third quarter and never trailed again.

"We just hung in there and got some baskets when we needed them," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. "I kept telling (assistant) coach (Brian) James, 'we've got to keep it close.' We hung in there and we went into halftime only down two so I knew we had a shot."

Sikeston led 57-54 entering the fourth and pulled away by hitting 13-of-17 from the free throw line in the final period.

Sikeston's Julian Beard puts up a shot.

Sikeston held a 73-68 lead with 2:50 remaining. The Tigers still trailed 77-70 with 2:10 remaining, but the Bulldogs closed the game on an 11-0 run to ice the victory.

"That's by far our worst half of the year in the second half," said Cape Central coach Derek McCord. "They did whatever they wanted to do the entire second half. Hopefully it's a good wake-up call for the Tigers."

Sikeston freshman Michael Porter led all scorers with 28 points, including 21 in the second half. He also had six rebounds, three assists and two blocks and scored 14 of Sikeston's final 31 points in the fourth quarter.

He was joined by junior guard Julian Beard, who tallied 25 points with seven rebounds and four assists.

Isaac Porter followed up with 13 points and nine rebounds.

"We got dominated on the glass and we stopped boxing out," said McCord. "We gave up too many second and third shots. That was the difference in the game. We played well for 2 1/2 quarters, but it's a four-quarter game. Give them credit. Julian Beard and Michael Porter absolutely dominated us on the boards in the fourth quarter."

Cape Central was led by David Deisher's 24 points. Darnell Wilks, a 6-8 junior, had 18 points.

"We tried to stay in front of him and not let him get to the basket," said Holifield of Wilks. "He's such a good player and you can see his potential is unlimited. He's going to get an opportunity to play somewhere really good because he's going to get better and better."

Sikeston got one of its biggest boosts from junior point guard Blake Taylor, who came off the bench and played the entire second half. He finished with seven points, six assists, three rebounds and a steal.

"Blake Taylor just did a great job off the bench," said Holifield. "He got the ball where it needed to be and he worked unbelievably hard on defense. It was a total team effort from the first guy to the 15th guy. The players played well together offensively and defensively and that's the key to the game."

The Tigers came out of the gates on fire as they led 6-0 to start the game, including a follow-up slam dunk by Wilks on a missed shot that stirred up the already frenzied Central crowd.

Sikeston managed to keep its composure, however, as they cut the lead to 13-12.

Central responded with back to back old-fashioned 3-point plays. The Tigers led by as much as 24-15, but an Isaac Porter basket on a putback cut it to 24-17 at the end of one.

After the Tigers scored a basket to start the second quarter, Sikeston started to make its comeback.

With Michael Porter on the bench with foul trouble, Beard took charge in the second quarter, scoring 13 points in the period.

Eventually, the Bulldogs were able to tie the score at 32-32 on Beard's conventional 3-point play with 3:40 left in the second quarter.

But the Tigers pushed ahead once again with a 9-2 run to lead 41-34. Sikeston then closed the half scoring five straight points, including a Beard offensive putback with five seconds left in the half to trim the lead to 41-39.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good midway through the third quarter on an Isaac Porter free throw with 4:09 left. Sikeston led 57-54 heading into the fourth.

The Tigers got no closer than five the rest of the way.

"We got the ball where it needed to be offensively and defensively we covered the shooters and we did a good job on the boards," said Holifield. "I feel like we out-rebounded them. We were getting better position in the second half and we were just aggressive. When we play that way, you know, we're good. Cape Central is a tough team and it's a quality win for us. We were fortunate that they didn't hit some shots they normally make and we were able to clean up the boards."

Sikeston only turned the ball over 10 times on the night.

The Bulldogs only attempted two 3-pointers all night, both of which they didn't connect. But they shot 33-of-66 (50 percent) from the field overall and grabbed 34 rebounds.

Rod Moore added nine points with six rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs.

Adrian Cox scored all 10 of his points in the first half for the Tigers. Jajuan Bell, who torched the Bulldogs for 21 points last year, finished with nine points.

The win by the Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing streak to the Tigers. Sikeston has now won eight of the last 10 against Cape Central.

Sikeston played at Parkway Central in St. Louis Saturday. Results from that game will be in Monday's edition. Cape Central will play at Charleston in a SEMO Conference matchup on Tuesday.

The Sikeston J.V. team fell to 16-5 on the season with a 51-47 overtime loss to Cape Central.

Sikeston had defeated Cape Central twice already this season, but couldn't pull it off the third time.

Sikeston also falls to 5-2 in the SEMO Conference. Cape Central improves to 9-12 and 3-4 in league play.

Sikeston led 26-22 at halftime, but came unglued in the third quarter as the Tigers took a 37-34 lead.

The Bulldogs stayed behind for most of the fourth but managed to tie things up to send the game into overtime.

Cape Central out-scored the Bulldogs 7-3 in the O.T. period.

Sikeston was led by Brandon Washington's 15 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. Sherwin Jones added 13 points. Richard Andrews had 10 points with five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

James Bonner had seven points with seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Cape Central was led by George Hamilton's 14 points. Landon Ewers, a 6-6 post, added 13 points.

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