Bulldogs fall in OT thriller to Jackson

sports@standard-democrat.com

JACKSON -- When the Sikeston Bulldogs win, they usually win by big.

But when they lose, they do it in excruciating, white-knuckle fashion.

ADAM VOGLER ~ avogler@semissourian.com Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield talks to his players during a time-out during the Bulldogs' 75-72 overtime loss to the Jackson Indians the Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Jackson High School.

ADAM VOGLER ~ avogler@semissourian.com Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield talks to his players during a time-out during the Bulldogs' 75-72 overtime loss to the Jackson Indians the Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Jackson High School.

At Jackson on Tuesday, the Bulldogs experienced it again, losing to the Indians 75-72 in overtime in front of a huge crowd in a playoff-type atmosphere.

With the win, the Indians (15-2, 3-0 SEMO Conference) snapped a six game-losing streak to Sikeston dating back to 2008.

For the Bulldogs (12-3, 1-2 SEMO), it was another tough overtime loss -- the team's third this year.

But Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield was upbeat after the game, citing his team's resolve in rallying from a double-digit deficit.

"We put ourselves in a position to win the game," Holifield said. "It's one of those things where as you reflect back on, if we had rebounded better in situations, if we were more aggressive in situations, if we had guarded the ball better in certain situations, it probably would have came out on our end. But I was proud of our effort and I thought our kids did a good job of hanging in there. What a great high school game. It was intense, and well-played to be intense as it was."

The Bulldogs trailed nearly the entire way, falling behind by as much as 12 points in the second quarter. But they fought back to send it into overtime where Sikeston's J.T. Jones had a half-court attempt that was on target and would have sent the game into a second overtime, only to have it bounce off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

"When he released it it looked good," Holifield said. "It looked like it had a shot to go in."

But the missed shot keeps the Indians sitting pretty for a regular season conference title while the Bulldogs will need lots of help if they are to repeat as league champions.

"It's good to get a win against a great team because they've done so much," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "You can see by the plays they made at the end down the stretch, they expect to win every game. They played so well against Kennett on Friday night so we knew it was going to be tough."

With the Indians leading nearly wire-to-wire in regulation, Sikeston began to make its move late in the fourth quarter.

Things looked bleak when Jackson's Braden Wendel hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 left to extend the Indian lead to 65-58.

But a Jones free throw, a missed one-and-one free throw by Jackson's Calvin Lysell and a 3-pointer by Sikeston's Chris Scott with 1:09 left quickly cut the lead to 65-62.

On the ensuing possession, Sikeston's Reese Porter knocked a loose ball away that was scooped up by Jones, who then made his way up the floor, bulled his way inside, scored the basket and was fouled with 51 seconds left to send the large contingent of Bulldog fans into a frenzy.

Jones bounced in the free throw to finally tie the game at 65-65.

Jackson used up most of the clock for a final shot, but Josh Daume's 17-foot jumper with eight seconds left was well-contested by Scott. Sikeston's Corbyn Blissett rebounded the miss and immediately called timeout with 2.4 seconds left.

Sikeston's chance to win in regulation went to Jones who launched a 60-footer that hit the top of the backboard and was well off the mark, sending the game into overtime.

The Bulldogs twice led in overtime, its first and only leads of the night, on a Porter layup and a Scott jumper, but Jackson countered each time as 6-foot-7 junior Blake Reynolds scored seven of his 19 points in the overtime period.

An inside basket by Reynolds with 45 seconds left gave the Indians a 73-69 lead.

Sikeston's Dominique Dyes banked in a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to trim the lead to one.

Jackson's Karson King then made 1 of 2 from the free throw line with 13 seconds left to extend the lead to 74-72.

After breaking the press and with the clock ticking down, Jones passed to Dyes in the corner for a 3-point attempt, but it was off the mark. Reynolds secured the rebound and was immediately fouled with just three ticks left on the clock.

Reynolds made the first free throw, but missed the second. With no timeouts remaining, Jones rebounded the miss and dribbled up to halfcourt where he released his desperation shot that bounced off the mark.

"It's one of those games that's got to make you better," Holifield said. "We have a goal and objective of getting to the district tournament and being as good as we can be and this game will help us. It was a great atmopshere and a great environment and I thought our kids battled back and did some good things. We had a shot to win it. That's all you can ask for."

Jones, Sikeston's 6-foot-3 all-state senior, stepped up big down the stretch. He scored 12 of his season-high 30 points in the fourth quarter. He made 11 of 15 shots from the field and also grabbed 12 rebounds with six assists.

"I thought J.T. played great," Holifield said. "He had great leadership qualities. I thought our team really pulled together. There's a lot of positives in this game. We had some adverse situations and our guys battled through and did some good things. J.T. really stepped up and led us in the right direction."

Both teams traded buckets in the early going with the score tied 6-6, but Jackson caught fire, going on a 10-2 run. King's 3-pointer just before the first quarter buzzer gave the Indians a 19-9 lead.

Jackson, ranked No. 6 in Class 5, continued to control the game, leading by as much as 21-9 and 27-15 in the second quarter. Jones had yet to score in the game, prompting the Jackson student section to hurl "overrated" chants at him.

But Jones quieted his peers, scoring 14 points in the second quarter, including an offensive putback with 10 seconds left in the half to cut the Jackson lead to 38-32.

"J.T. was tough to guard -- he got it at the top of the key and just split the zone and made some plays," Scott said. "He's so strong with the basketball that he can force the issue and get into places where some kids might turn it over, yet he can still make a play. There's two or three times where I thought we might knock the ball away or make a steal, but he was strong with the ball and was able to make a pass for another kid to score."

Jackson hit 5 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half which kept the Bulldogs from sinking in the paint around the Indian post players.

"They shot it great," Holifield said. "It's all predicated on guarding the basketball. They beat us off the dribble and put us in a help situation and to their credit they knocked shots down."

The Bulldogs kept pace in the third quarter, even tying the game at 46-46 on a Scott basket with 2:20 left in the period, but the Indians closed the period strong with a 6-1 run to lead 54-47 entering the fourth where the Bulldogs out-scored Jackson 18-11 to force the overtime.

Sikeston misfired on its first nine 3-point attempts in the game, but they made 5 of 12 the rest of the way.

"They did the best job of attacking the zone and getting into spots and making passes," Scott said. "So we had to guard them inside and then when Dyes and Scott stepped up and started hitting 3's, that makes them hard to guard."

Porter continued his solid play as of late, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds.

"Nobody talks about Reese being as good as he is, but he plays bigger than he is and he moves so well getting into the gaps," Scott said of Porter.

Scott finished with 12 points and three steals. Blissett had nine assists, five rebounds and three steals.

"I thought we had a great team effort," Holifield said. "We had a lot of guys step up and make plays. That's our system and that's our style. Our guys really work hard at it. That's one of the great things about our style, you're never out of a game. Our players play with a sense of urgency and it puts us in a position to come back and win games. These guys have been involved in a lot of big games and a lot of winning situations and that just carries over."

The Indians cooled off from 3-point range in the second half, only hitting 2 of 10, and they also hurt themselves from the free throw line, only hitting 8 of 19.

Jackson, with its significant height advantage, out-rebounded the Bulldogs 41 to 37, including 15 offensive rebounds that all seemed to come at critical junctures.

"They biggest plays of the game we just didn't get second and third rebounds where they were allowed shot opportunities," Holifield said. "If you're going to be a championship team you have to take care of that."

The Bulldogs only had five turnovers in the game while forcing 13 turnovers on the Indians.

King, a 6-6 senior, led Jackson with 23 points. Daume scored 13 points while 6-8 senior Brandon Lueders added 10.

The Indians will play at Notre Dame on Friday. Sikeston, ranked No. 3 in Class 4, will host Soldan on Friday.

Sikeston 9 23 15 18 7 -- 72

Jackson 19 19 16 11 10 -- 75

SIKESTON (72) -- J.T. Jones 30, Reese Porter 18, Chris Scott 12, Dominique Dyes 8, Corbyn Blissett 3, Marqese Parks 1. FG 23, FT 11-16, F 17. (3-pointers: Scott 2, Dyes 2, Jones 1. Fouled out: none).

JACKSON (75) -- Karson King 23, Blake Reynolds 19, Josh Daume 13, Brandon Lueders 10, Braden Wendel 5, Calvin Lysell 5. FG 23, FT 8-19, F 15. (3-pointers: King 3, Daume 2, Wendel 1, Lysell 1. Fouled out: none).

__Junior varsity__

Sikeston's J.V. team avenged its only loss of the season with a 62-50 win over Jackson to improve to 9-1 on the season.

The Bulldogs jayvee, which lost 53-50 to Jackson on Nov. 30, led 26-24 at the half and out-scored the Indians 36-26 in the second half.

Juwon Kimble led the Bulldogs with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. Deterio Newman had 14 points with five steals.

Sikeston 9 17 17 19 -- 62

Jackson 8 16 8 18 -- 50

SIKESTON (62) -- Juwon Kimble 19, Deterio Newman 14, Donnell Cobb 10, Ja'lon Marr 9, Jaylen Mallory 7, Sam Cox 3. FG 21, FT 14-26, F 20. (3-pointers: Newman 2. Fouled out: none).

JACKSON (50) -- Garrett Walker 20, Jacob Smith 13, Caleb Bess 8, Grant Ward 5, Blake Duffy 4. FG 12, FT 8-19, F 19. (3-pointers: Walker 4, Bess 2. Fouled out: none).