Menu
Sikeston avoids upset against NMCC
SIKESTON -- In a hard-fought contest, the top-seeded Sikeston Bulldogs defeated No. 8 seed New Madrid County Central 61-47 in the first round of the SEMO Conference Tournament on Tuesday at the Sikeston Field House.
The Bulldogs advance to the semifinals where they will take on fifth-seeded Notre Dame tomorrow at 7 p.m.
It was not a typical 1 vs. 8 first round game in what is considered the deepest field in the conference tournament's history, but the Bulldogs used a 23-9 second quarter run to build a comfortable lead that they would maintain for most of the night.
NMCC never went quietly, though, cutting the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter on two separate occasions.
"We knew it was going to be this way," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "One through eight, on any given night any of these teams can beat each other, which we'll see over the course of the season. This conference is so difficult."
Sikeston's win avenged a rare loss to the Eagles in February as the Bulldogs have now won 13 of the last 14 meetings with NMCC.
But the Eagles came into the game wanting to show that its win over the Bulldogs 10 months ago was no fluke.
NMCC (2-1) hung tough the entire night.
The Eagles, which trailed by as much as 18 in the first half, eventually cut the Sikeston lead to 54-45 on a banked-in 3-pointer by Willie Jimerson with 3:20 left in the game.
The Eagles had a couple chances to cut into the lead even more, but Sikeston's J.T. Jones drilled a well-defended 3-pointer at the top of the key to push the lead back to double figures and essentially seal the game.
Jones scored in the post on the following possession and then, off a steal, finished a fast-break with a one-handed slam to extend the lead to 61-45 with 43 seconds left to punctuate the victory.
"We just had too many costly turnovers," NMCC coach Travis Day said. "A good team like Sikeston, you can't give them the ball. We did that early and dug ourself a hole. We played a decent first quarter, but in the second quarter we found ways to turn it over that you can't do against good teams."
The Eagles finished with 30 turnovers in the game, including 19 in the first half.
"Every time we got close, we'd make a mistake and give them a scoring opportunity," Day said. "You can't do that when you're battling a good team and trying to get yourself back into it."
The first quarter was high energy, but also sloppy.
Both teams combined for 20 turnovers in the first quarter.
Sikeston (2-0) broke a 6-6 deadlock on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Zach Harrison to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.
Harrison's 3 triggered a 13-0 run that was capped by a conventional 3-point play by Ja'lon Marr to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 19-6 early in the second quarter.
NMCC's Vontre Jones stopped the bleeding momentarily with a steal and layup, but the Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run and the rout appeared to be on with a 26-8 lead for the home team.
Sikeston took a 32-15 lead into halftime.
The Bulldogs maintained a sizable lead through the third quarter but the Eagles were able to cut the score to 46-33 heading into the fourth.
The Eagles cut the lead to 49-40 with six minutes left on two Mikael Walker free throws and then three minutes later on Jimerson's 3-pointer, but they couldn't get any closer.
Sikeston's returning all-stater Jones scored 10 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter. He also had 15 rebounds, five assists and three steals in the game.
"I think he hurt us on a lot of second chance shots," Day said of Jones. "He got a lot of offensive rebounds and we gave up too many of them."
The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Eagles 34 to 24, with 17 coming on the offensive end.
Jimerson led the Eagles with 18 points, but the standout junior guard was forced into numerous turnovers by the swarming Bulldog defense.
"Everybody's going to focus on Willie, we know that as a coaching staff and our team's got to know that," Day said. "We're going to have to have guys step up to take some pressure off him. We did that at times, and sometimes we've got to make sure Willie's not trying to do too much. It's a good learning game for us."
NMCC's Asten Newsom followed up with 10 points.
Sikeston's defense recorded 17 steals in the game, but they also had 18 turnovers.
"We had a lot of turnovers in the first half but you've got to give them credit for that," Holifield said. "I thought it was two teams that really competed hard. I thought both teams had some sloppy moments but it's early and the way we both play and the styles we both play, that's what you're going to get early in the season. We know we've got a lot of work to do to get to the level we want to get to get to, and we will. We'll improve."
NMCC will play fourth-seeded Charleston in the consolation semifinals today at 6 p.m.
| NMCC | 6 | 9 | 18 | 14 | -- | 47 |
| Sikeston | 9 | 23 | 14 | 15 | -- | 61 |
NMCC (47) -- Willie Jimerson 18, Asten Newsom 10, Mikael Walker 5, Harvey Brown 5, Vontre Jones 4, Gage Silman 4, Drew Palmer 1. FG 14, FT 7-15, F 17. (3-pointers: Jimmerson 2, Walker 1, Clark 1. Fouled out: none).
SIKESTON (61) -- J.T. Jones 28, Ja'lon Marr 9, Corbyn Blissett 6, Zach Harrison 5, Reese Porter 4, Dominique Dyes 4, Dantrell Brown 3, Chris Scott 2. FG 19, FT 5-15, F 17. (3-pointers: Jones 2, Blissett 2, Harrison 1, Brown 1. Fouled out: none).