Sikeston gets payback over Cape Central in district semifinal

Saturday, March 7, 2015
The Sikeston bench cheers after a made 3-pointer against Cape Central in a Class 4, District 1 semifinal game on Friday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- The Cape Central Tigers have been a thorn in Sikeston's side the last couple of seasons.

First, they eliminated Sikeston in the district championship last year to snap the Bulldogs' five-year district title reign.

And then this season the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs on their home floor twice, but after the last loss, the Bulldogs could not wait to get one more crack at the Tigers.

They finally got a measure of payback on Friday night with a resounding 75-43 win over second-seeded Cape Central in the Class 4, District 1 Tournament at the Field House.

The Cape Central hurdle was finally cleared, but the third-seeded Bulldogs have little time to celebrate as they must strap up once again tonight against top-seeded Notre Dame, which defeated fourth-seeded Kennett 75-58 in its semifinal game.

The championship game is scheduled for 7:30 following the girls championship at 6 p.m.

But Friday's victory, despite only being a semifinal win, had a district championship feel for the Bulldogs.

"First off our guys prepared well," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We were defeated by them three weeks ago and our guys came in with a sense of urgency after that point. I thought that we really did a good job of preparing and working every day. Our team has faced a lot of adversity this season but they just keep working. I couldn't be more proud of our team than I was tonight. They were on a mission tonight."

The Bulldogs (18-8), which has won 12 of its last 13 games, looked like a team on a mission as they not only won the game, but won convincingly, even enforcing the mercy clock in the final three minutes.

Sikeston's Fred Thatch drives past Cape Central's Al Young in a Class 4, District 1 semifinal game on Friday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins photo)

"They put it to us," Cape Central coach Drew Church said. "They beat us in every aspect of the game. Their toughness. Their defense. The loose balls. Just the energy. It's been a while since we've been whooped like that. That's all I can say, tonight they were the better team."

True enough, the Bulldogs dominated the bigger Tigers on the boards, out-rebounding them 36 to 27, and they forced Cape Central into 14 turnovers. Sikeston only had six turnovers themselves.

And perhaps more importantly, Sikeston did something they haven't done against Cape Central in a while.

They hit shots.

In last year's district championship loss, Sikeston misfired on 34 of the 41 shots they attempted from 3-point range.

But Friday Sikeston shot a respectable 8 of 18 (44 percent) from beyond the arc. The Tigers were just 3 of 19 (16 percent) from the 3-point line.

"We didn't hit a whole lot of shots early, but Sikeston was making our shots tough," Church said. "They contested our shots. They were making every shot at the rim hard. And they started making shots and getting confidence."

Both teams started the game slow.

The Tigers (20-7) finally broke the scoreless drought with a fastbreak slam dunk by Al Young with 4:02 left in the first to mark his team's only lead of the night.

Sikeston's Donnell Cobb answered seconds later with a 3-pointer.

Sikeston's Dominique Dyes shoots over Cape Central's Andre Statam in a Class 4, District 1 semifinal game on Friday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins photo)

The score was eventually tied 5-5, but Sikeston freshman Fred Thatch hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and teammate Juwon Kimble scored on an offensive putback to give the Bulldogs a 10-5 lead after one.

It was the beginning of a big night for Thatch, who finished with a game-high 20 points with 11 rebounds and three assists. It's his 15th double-double of the season.

"Fred is just a winner. He's got that winning way and he is fun to coach," Holifield said.

Cape Central cut the Sikeston lead to 29-21 late in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs closed the half with a flurry.

It started when Thatch drew an offensive charge on Young when he was driving to the basket.

Church, unhappy with the call, was whistled for a technical foul with 50 seconds left in the half.

Sikeston's Corbyn Blissett made both free throws to lead 31-21.

Sikeston couldn't score on the free possession following the free throws, but the Tigers turned the ball over on the following possession when Jaylen Mallory out-hustled a Tigers player to scoop up the loose ball in the backcourt and score the layup to lead 33-21.

Then following another defensive stop, Kimble followed up a missed shot with a putback at the buzzer to take a 35-21 lead into halftime.

The 6-0 run in the final 50 seconds proved to be a big momentum shift in the Bulldogs' favor.

"Those plays can't happen," Church said. "Two plays where two of our kids quit playing and gave them buckets. That's not something that should happen. That's something you teach in the second and third grade of playing every possession. You would think at this point in the season that wouldn't happen, but it did. Tonight just wasn't our night. It's a shame our seniors had to go out like this."

Sikeston continued to pile up points in the third quarter as junior guard Dominique Dyes began to heat up, hitting 4 of 5 from 3-point range to blow the game open.

"Dominique is a great shooter," Holifield said. "I've always said he's as good as any shooter I've had. He just has to go up with confidence and knock it down. I don't know if people realize how good a shooter he is."

The Bulldogs carried a 59-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

Cape Central never got closer than 22 in the fourth quarter as Sikeston out-scored them 16-7.

Cape Central's Drew Church talks to Peyton Montgomery and Kway'chon Chism (24) in a Class 4, District 1 semifinal game on Friday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins photo)

"Our guys really stepped up," Holifield said. "We weren't hesitant. We played as a team. We were very unselfish. We got the ball in places that it needed to be. I thought our guys did a really good job of understanding what we had to do to guard them and we spent a lot of time working on that. I'm just proud of our effort, from top to bottom. From one through 15 our guys have really worked hard. It's an entire team effort."

Blissett had 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Dyes scored all 14 of his points in the second half.

Three players off the bench provided a huge boost for the Bulldogs. Kimble had 10 points and eight rebounds. Earnest Fobbs had two points, six rebounds and three assists. Mallory had five points and two steals.

"Earnest gets better every day and does so many little things to help our team win," Holifield said. "I thought Jaylen and Juwon just gave us tremendous minutes. Donnell got in foul trouble and those guys were huge. Jaylen was really tough and did a lot of good things and had a great hustle play where he scored a bucket that I thought was a big lift for us. Juwon is just steady. He comes in every game. He can put the ball in the bucket. He can make shots and I thought he did really well in the boards."

Sikeston's bench out-scored the Tigers 18-2.

Young led the Tigers with 18 points. Andre Statam, a 6-foot-6 Jacksonville State signee, was limited to 11 points.

This was the second time in three years Sikeston has eliminated Cape Central from district competition. They also defeated the Tigers in the district title game at Dexter in 2013.

The victory puts the Bulldogs in the district championship game for the 10th straight year with this marking the eighth matchup against Notre Dame in that stretch.

Sikeston defeated Notre Dame 62-32 at the Field House in December, but Holifield expects a completely different opponent tonight.

"We understand that game two months ago means absolutely nothing other than the fact that it was two months ago," Holifield said. "I think they're outstanding. They've won a ton of games this season. Their coach has done a great job, and we know how difficult it's going to be. There's nobody in this area in Southeast Missouri that respects Notre Dame more than I do. I can assure you of that."

Sikeston10252416--75
Cape Central516157--43

SIKESTON (75) -- Fred Thatch 20, Corbyn Blissett 15, Dominique Dyes 14, Juwon Kimble 10, Donnell Cobb 8, Jaylen Mallory 5, Earnest Fobbs 2, Sam Cox 1. FG 18, FT 15-21, F 13. (3-pointers: Dyes 4, Cobb 2, Mallory 1, Thatch 1. Fouled out: none).

CAPE CENTRAL (43) -- Al Young 18, Andre Statam 11, Kway'chon Chisom 6, Chase Hagerty 4, Nikylus Thompson 2, Blake Harris 2. FG 13, FT 8-13, F 18. (3-pointers: Young 2, Statam 1. Fouled out: Hagerty).

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