CAPE GIRARDEAU - The season will be on the line tonight at Notre Dame High School when the Sikeston Bulldogs take on Notre Dame at 7:45 in the Class 4, District 1 Tournament.
In what Bulldog head coach Gregg Holifield calls "one of the biggest games we've had since the 2000 district championship," Sikeston will try to upset the Notre Dame Bulldogs in enemy territory.
Third-seeded Sikeston (13-12) has been hot recently, winning eight of its last 10 games, including four in a row.
Second-seeded Notre Dame (18-7) enters the game with a first round bye and they will have the luxury of home-court advantage.
Both teams tied for third place in the SEMO Conference with 5-3 records, but Notre Dame won the head-to-head meeting in December 56-44 at the Sikeston Field House.
Holifield doesn't expect anything easy this time either.
"They've got a lot of the things you need to win a championship," said Holifield. "They all shoot the basketball well, they have a lot of weapons, they play very well together, and on top of that they're a very good defensive team. We know they're going to be tough to beat, especially on their home court."
Sikeston has fared well in Notre Dame's new gymnasium which opened four years ago, winning both times they've played there.
But both games were nail-biters as Sikeston was able to pull out the victories in the last second, 71-69 in 1999 and 48-47 last season.
Notre Dame was able to hold off Sikeston this season with some solid outside shooting, an effective passing and cutting game, and a staunch defensive effort.
"We really didn't play very well that night and I thought they played outstanding," said Holifield. "They really took us out of our offense and defense. I was very impressed with them the night they played us. They did a lot of back-door cuts on us and scored some of easy buckets. We've tried to make some adjustments and take some of that away."
Notre Dame also was able to limit the touches Sikeston all-stater Lontas McClinton got, holding him to 16 points while he attempted just nine shots.
The Bulldogs couldn't relieve the collapsing pressure in that game as they made just 2-of-10 from 3-point range. Bulldog second leading scorer Lavar Morgan was held to a season-low two points.
Holifield knows his team can't afford another poor shooting night like that.
"They ran some triangle-and-two against us the first time we played them, keying on Lontas and Lavar," said Holifield. "We've got to get some more people involved in the offense and we've got to be more patient to get the shots we want to get."
Notre Dame head coach Darrin Scott is hoping his team can duplicate the same defensive intensity as they did in the first meeting.
"Lontas McClinton and Lavar Morgan are so athletic and they can do so many things defensively and offensively," said Notre Dame head coach Darrin Scott. "We really feel like we're going to have to play well to beat them."
Neither team is short on experience as both start five seniors.
Notre Dame's top perimeter shooters are Travis Siebert and Wayne Essner, who both score 13 points per game.
Tyler Cuba is the team's top perimeter defender and athlete while Cory Beussink is the top post player, averaging 11 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Along with McClinton and Morgan, the Bulldogs start Michael Colon, Lawrence Davis and Ben Anderson.
Holifield feels the five have seen it all in three years of varsity basketball, including this year's brutal schedule.
"I think our schedule will help us, with the atmosphere and the situation," said Holifield. "We know it's going to be a packed gym. We know they're a very good team. We've been playing well as of late. We've won eight out of 10 and we've won four in a row. Hopefully we're playing well at the right time."