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Bulldogs post fifth straight win
NEW MADRID -- The Sikeston Bulldogs captured their fifth straight victory, defeating SEMO Conference foe New Madrid County Central 66-47 on the Eagles' Senior Night.
The Bulldogs improved to 15-8 on the season and 6-2 in the SEMO Conference.
NMCC hung tough for a quarter, but Sikeston exploded for 28 points in the second quarter to take a 43-21 halftime lead.
The Eagles never challenged after that as Sikeston led 62-33 heading into the fourth quarter and eventually put the mercy clock on before NMCC's reserves made it more respectable.
But overall, it was another solid effort from the suddenly red-hot Bulldogs, who have won seven of their last nine against NMCC.
Sikeston sophomore Michael Porter was a stat-stuffer, scoring 27 points with 10 rebounds, seven assists, five blocked shots and five steals in three quarters of action.
"I thought we did a good job of getting the ball inside to where it was supposed to be," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. "Our post players did a good job. Michael had a great night and our guards did a good job of finding him. He works hard and gets good position and he's so good around the basket."
It's Porter's biggest game since scoring a career-high 36 points against Portageville on Jan. 27.
"He's an awesome player," said NMCC coach Travis Day. "He was our Achilles heel. He's a kid that you've got to get out of the paint. We gave him position way too deep where he could just turn around and score at will."
In addition to Porter, NMCC's biggest enemy was themselves.
"It was unforced turnovers again," said Day. "We had some turnovers that we brought on ourselves instead of them doing it to us. We just didn't take care of the ball. It's just little stuff that's eating us up right now."
NMCC held its only lead at 7-6 after Leslie Williams banked in a 3-pointer in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs eventually regrouped for a 15-11 lead at the end of one.
Sikeston extended the lead to double-figures early in the second quarter and never looked back, pushing the lead to 43-21 by halftime behind Porter's 19 first-half points.
"They turned the ball over a few times and we were fortunate to get some breaks and that created some scoring opportunities to build our lead going into halftime," said Holifield.
The third quarter started the way the first half ended as Porter got loose with a steal and finished the break with a two-handed flush. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 19-12 in the quarter.
"Sikeston's a good team and they did what good teams do -- you make a mistake and they capitalize on it," said Day. "My hat's off to them for making us pay for every mistake we made."
Holifield emptied his bench to start the fourth quarter and, after initially enforcing the mercy clock at 63-33, NMCC responded with a 13-2 run to make it 65-46, but they wouldn't get any closer.
Sikeston's Ray Rodgers finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Brandon Washington added six rebounds and Matt Ritch had five assists.
Sikeston was 27-56 from the field (48 percent) and misfired on all six of its 3-point attempts.
The Bulldogs grabbed 40 rebounds as a team and they had 19 assists compared to 17 turnovers.
"We had good intensity defensively, even though we were out of position a few times," said Holifield. "I thought Josh Jackson came off the bench and really gave us some energy and did a good job defensively for us."
NMCC was led by Dijuan Waters' 21 points, 15 of which came in the second half.
The Eagles have now lost seven straight to fall to 4-17 on the season and 1-7 in SEMO Conference play.
"They came out with great energy and they were working extremely hard," said Holifield of NMCC. "That's all you can do. They're going to get things going and turned around. With their energy and effort tonight I was impressed with how hard they played."
NMCC will play at Portageville on Friday at 6 p.m. Sikeston will travel to Kennett in the final game of the regular season schedule on Friday at 6 p.m.
Junior varsity
The Sikeston J.V. team improved to 16-4 on the season and 7-1 in the SEMO Conference with a 56-31 victory against the NMCC junior varsity.
The game was pivotal as far as conference standings with the winner of the game possibly clinching at least a share of the title. Sikeston will need to defeat Kennett's junior varsity on Friday to clinch it.
Sikeston never trailed in the game as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter en route to a 12-6 lead at the end of the period.
Sikeston led 26-14 at the half and extended the lead to 43-24 heading into the fourth quarter after freshman Juqualin Wiggins drained a 28-foot shot at the buzzer.
The Bulldogs finished the game off from there.
Wiggins had 11 points with seven rebounds and six assists. Sophomore Dominic Fondon had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Freshman Eli Jackson had 13 points and five rebounds. Sherwin Jones added 12 points, three assists and three steals.
NMCC (16-3, 6-2 SEMO) was led by Josh Minner's eight points. Terry Young added six points and Dontre Jenkins followed up with five.