Sikeston reaches ninth straight district championship game

sports@standard-democrat.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- For the ninth straight year the Sikeston Bulldogs advanced to the championship game of the Class 4, District 1 Tournament after defeating Kennett 81-46 on Thursday night at Cape Central High School.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will attempt to win its sixth straight district title tonight at 7:30 p.m. against third-seeded Cape Central, which defeated No. 2 seed Notre Dame 51-49 on Thursday.

Against Kennett, Sikeston (22-3) dominated the game from the start and were never seriously threatened by the fourth-seeded Indians (15-11).

"We came in and did some good things and had good pressure on the basketball and did a good job on the boards," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "Offensively we got the ball where it needed to be."

Where it needed to be on this night was in the hands of senior all-stater J.T. Jones, who posted a career-high 35 points with nine rebounds, three steals and two emphatic blocked shots. He was 16 of 22 (73 percent) from the field.

"He's been in a lot of big games," Holifield said of Jones. "There's no substitute for experience. Our seniors have been through a lot of big games and he's going to show to play as hard as he possibly can. I believe that with all my heart."

Sikeston's J.T. Jones dribbles to the basket against Kennett in the Class 4, District 1 semifinals on Thursday at Cape Central High School. (David Jenkins photo)

Sikeston's J.T. Jones dribbles to the basket against Kennett in the Class 4, District 1 semifinals on Thursday at Cape Central High School. (David Jenkins photo)

The Bulldog offense was clicking from the opening tip as they steadily built a nine-point lead in the first quarter before Kennett's Carlos Turner hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 26-19 after one.

"We got in a position that you can't get in with Sikeston," Kennett coach Jim Vaughan said. "When you get that deficit they can really extend that deficit. Some things snowballed. We moved pretty good through their press and made them work a little bit, but too many times through that stretch we'd get in that bad spot on the floor and it would create turnovers. And a lot of times through that we just took hurried shots. That's what a press wants you to do. They want you to come down and take that 17-footer right away."

Sikeston continued to extend its lead in the second quarter as sophomore Dominique Dyes connected for three 3-pointers in the period. Sikeston was able to open up a 47-27 lead by halftime.

Jones had already tallied 21 points in the first half.

"He's a load," Vaughan said of Jones. "He's 6-2 or 6-3 but he's such a load of a body and he knows how to use it so well. There's just not a lot of people that have a one-on-one answer for him. But what Sikeston is so good about, if we did go double and squeeze him or Reese (Porter), they're both good at passing out of it."

The Bulldogs continued to extend its lead in the third quarter. Kennett's Landon Vaughan hit a long 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to trim the lead to 63-40, but it just prolonged the inevitable as Sikeston was able to push the lead past 30 in the fourth quarter to enforce the mercy clock.

"They're a measure of consistency throughout a four quarter basketball game," Vaughan said of Sikeston. "They just have that composure and everybody kind of knows their role. As individual players they handle themselves well and they play off each other so well too. The job that Gregg and Brian (James) and the rest of his coaching staff have done from junior high all the way through has been really impressive to see kids buy into an unselfish system the way they have."

Dyes scored 12 points while Chris Scott and Zach Harrison each scored 10 points for the Bulldogs. Corbyn Blissett had five assists.

Kennett was led by sophomore Rantrell Caruthers with 14 points. Classmate Andre Oliver followed up with 11 points. The Indians were without the services of senior all-stater Kevonte Mitchell, who missed the Indians' final six games with a fractured left index finger.

It's Sikeston's 13th straight victory over Kennett dating back to 2004.

"They play extremely hard and they shoot the basketball well," Holifield said of Kennett. "You can see in the first quarter they play with a lot of confidence. Coach Vaughan has done a great job there. He is a good coach and they were dealt a tough blow in losing Kevonte. But he held them together and I thought they played well."

The Bulldogs forced 23 turnovers on the Indians while committing just nine turnovers themselves.

Sikeston, winners of 10 straight, out-rebounded the Indians 30 to 18 in the game. The Bulldogs shot 33 of 62 (53 percent) overall from the field.

Sikeston defeated Cape Central 67-52 on Feb. 14 in the two teams' only meeting this year. Tonight's contest is also a rematch of last year's district championship, won by Sikeston 77-61.

"You have to have a sense of urgency -- you can't have any regrets," Holifield said. "You've got to work as hard as you can and leave it all on the court. Hopefully it will carry over tomorrow night. But I trust our players, I think we'll come out and play as hard as we can."

Kennett 19 8 13 6 -- 46

Sikeston 26 21 16 18 -- 81

KENNETT (46) -- Rantrell Caruthers 14, Andre Oliver 11, Jad Kenny 6, Antavies Drake 4, Carlos Turner 4, Materion Jones 4, Landon Vaughan 3. FG 15, FT 7-11, F 13. (3-pointers: Caruthers 2, Vaughan 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (81) -- J.T. Jones 35, Dominique Dyes 12, Chris Scott 10, Zach Harrison 10, Corbyn Blissett 4, Jairius Ray 4, Deterio Newman 2, Juwon Kimble 2, Luke Williams 2. FG 28, FT 10-13, F 15. (3-pointers: Dyes 3, Harrison 2. Fouled out: none).