Eighth graders finish at 12-1

JACKSON -- The Sikeston 8th grade basketball team completed its season with a first place finish in the Jackson Tournament by defeating Jackson, 45

-30 on Thursday.

Sikeston finishes its season at 12-1.

"They had a great year," said Sikeston coach Kevin Self. "I know (varsity coach) Gregg Holifield and (junior varsity coach) Brian (James) are excited because I see some of these kids moving up for the J.V. next year. I think they're a very deep class. We could go 10 deep this year. This is a tremendous group and they're going to be very successful. There's a lot of good things happening with Sikeston basketball.

"I think Sikeston's finally stemmed the tide and I think you'll see Sikeston basketball put out some good teams for a long time. And it's not the way we win. It's the kind of kids we're winning with. These are all great kids."

On Thursday, Sikeston jumped out to a 12-6 lead and never trailed. They led 21-14 at halftime and 31-24 heading into the fourth quarter where they put the game away.

The Bulldogs were just 9-of-21 from the free throw line.

"If we could hit our free throws we'd have won this game by 40," said Self. "Fortunately we played great defense and they couldn't even get a shot off."

Sikeston was led by Jaqualin Wiggins with 17 points. Eli Jackson had 15 points.