Sikeston holds off late Hawks rally

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing streak on Friday night with a 70-55 win against the Kelly Hawks.

The Hawks kept the game interesting as they trailed by just four points with just over three minutes left in the game.

But Sikeston ended the game on a 13-2 run to win going away.

It wasn't a picturesque victory for the Bulldogs, but head coach Gregg Holifield was just happy to get off the losing streak.

"This is a big win for us," said Holifield. "We had been struggling a little bit, but we were playing some outstanding teams. Tonight I thought Kelly played real well. They played more aggressive and played harder than we did tonight. They were very relentless and they worked hard. I was impressed with how they approached the game."

Sikeston's Blake Taylor drives past Kelly's Tyler Thurman.

Bulldog freshman Michael Porter had a career-high 22 points with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

"He really was an animal tonight," said Kelly coach Cory Johnson. "That's a bad job on my part in not being as prepared for him as we should've been. I knew he was good. I didn't realize he was that good. He had a fantastic game and the kid's just a freshman. He really hurt us in there."

For one of the few times this season, Sikeston matched up well in the height department.

With Kelly's tallest regular post player at 6-foot-3, Holifield said pounding it into to his 6-3 freshman was the gameplan from the start.

"We were posting and they had a difficult time stopping him," said Holifield. "He just did a good job tonight. Our guards did a good job of getting him the basketball and he had some opportunities. Plus he hit the boards offensively tonight."

Sikeston (10-6) never trailed in the game, but Kelly never went away either.

The Bulldogs opened up a 13-7 first quarter lead, but the Hawks managed to cut it to 18-17 by the end of the period.

The Bulldogs were able to extend the lead in the second quarter as they led 31-23, but once again Kelly fought back, cutting the advantage to 33-31.

Sikeston was able to get a couple key baskets from Ray Rodgers just before halftime to go ahead 37-31.

Kelly's Brandon Ayers banked in a halfcourt 3-pointer, but it was waved off after the buzzer clearly sounded before he released the ball.

The Bulldogs started the pull away in the third quarter, opening up a double-

digit lead. They appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away, leading 49-37 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

But the Hawks caught fire again, going on a 9-0 run to make it 49-46 game.

An Isaac Porter 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the quarter gave the Bulldogs some momentum heading into the final frame.

One of the key plays of the fourth quarter came when Sikeston led 57-53 with 3:30 left in the game.

Kelly (12-7) attempted a 3-pointer, but it was off the mark. Sikeston secured the rebound and eventually on the offensive end, Michael Porter was fouled driving to the basket.

He sank both free throws to extend the lead to 59-53.

Kelly never recovered.

"Late there we got an opportunity to knock down a 3," said Johnson. "We don't hit it and then we had to get a stop but they executed. Tonight we just gave them too many extra opportunities. You can't do it against a team that's that athletic and that talented. Anytime you give them five, six, seven, eight opportunities like we did, you're going to have trouble winning."

Sikeston out-rebounded Kelly 40 to 24 on the night with several coming on the offensive end.

The Hawks also had 17 turnovers compared to just eight for the Bulldogs.

Kelly was led by Jordan Felter's 14 points, including three 3-pointers, an aspect of his game that has been improving according to Johnson.

"Jordan's a worker," said Johnson. "He comes in every day 30 minutes before practice and stays 30 minutes after practice and just shoots. He's the gym rat of the team. He's worked to get better."

Jacob Glastetter followed up with 12 points for the Hawks.

"We're not the most talented kids by any means, but they bust their tail and they work hard," said Johnson. "And that's half of it. They know if they play as hard as they can, then we're going to be in the ballgame. It was a good ballgame. I don't think the score shows how close that ballgame really was."

Holifield said that Kelly, while not possessing a lot of height, was stronger than his bunch.

"They muscled us around a little bit," said Holifield. "They were more aggressive and we were standing a lot. They're going to give some people fits. I've scouted them a couple times. They gave Charleston a good game and they beat Cape Central so I knew they would be a good team that could beat good people."

Rodgers had 13 points off the bench for the Bulldogs. Julian Beard added 12 points with six rebounds and four steals. Rod Moore scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter. He also had nine rebounds and three assists.

The win by Sikeston snapped a two-game losing streak to Kelly.

Sikeston played Portageville on Saturday. Results from that game will be in Monday's edition.

Sikeston's J.V. team improved to 13-3 on the season with a 62-26 win against Kelly, avenging a loss to the Hawks two weeks ago.

Sikeston was never threatened in this game. They led 19-6 after one quarter and led 36-6 at one point before settling for a 40-12 halftime advantage. They led 55-20 heading into the fourth quarter where the mercy rule kept the clock moving the rest of the way.

Sikeston, playing without injured leading scorer Brandon Washington, saw several players step up.

Sherwin Jones had a game-high 14 points with four assists and three steals. Freshman Richard Andrews had 13 points. Dominic Fondon and James Bonner each had eight points.

Chris Cooper led Kelly with five points.