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Cape Central dethrones five-time defending champion Sikeston 68-52
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- It was bound to happen at some point, but the pain of losing is still a tough pill to swallow.
Sikeston's district title reign has ended at five straight after losing to Cape Central 68-52 in the Class 4, District 1 championship game on Friday at Cape Central High School.
The third-seeded Tigers avenged a 67-52 loss to the top-seeded Bulldogs on this very floor just three weeks ago to advance to the sectional round where they will play Farmington on Wednesday at Three Rivers College.
Sikeston's season ends at 22-4.
"It's a tough loss," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We didn't play well but Cape had a lot to do with that. They did a really good job defensively. We were impatient offensively. But you have to give them credit. It's one of those games where nothing ever seemed to go our way."
The Tigers' game-plan seemed simple enough: surround senior all-state post player J.T. Jones and dare the Bulldogs to beat them from the perimeter.
Sikeston was more than willing to shoot the 3-point shot, but, except for a brief stretch in the third quarter, they were ice cold nearly the entire game.
The Bulldogs misfired on 23 of its first 24 3-point attempts and only made seven out of a whopping 41 attempts.
"We didn't have any rhythm," Holifield said. "We were not taking good shots and we were hesitating when we had open looks. You just can't play the game like that. They really packed it in. They did a good job of taking our low post game away and our high post game away. We hesitated getting the ball in there and when you hesitate you're just not going to play well. We were hesitant in a lot of areas tonight."
Cape Central coach Drew Church said his team's game-plan worked to perfection.
"There's two or three guys that we wanted to contest and two or three guys we wanted to let shoot," Church said. "That's a chance we wanted to take. If Sikeston is making 3's, it's hard to beat them anyway. You take your chances and you have a game-plan and stick with it and you see what happens."
The Tigers (17-10) controlled the game from the start and never trailed, jumping out to a 7-0 following two baskets by 6-foot-7 senior Jamal Cox and a 3-pointer by junior Jalen Reddin.
The Bulldogs managed to eventually trim the Central lead to 11-10 following two Zach Harrison free throws, but another Cox basket gave the Tigers a 13-10 lead after one.
Central sophomore Al Young hit a 3-pointer and then scored a conventional 3-point play to start the second quarter, giving the Tigers a 19-10 lead while sending Jones to the bench with his second foul.
The Bulldogs continued to launch 3-pointers, many of which were wide open, uncontested shots, but they could not find the mark. Sikeston still managed to stay within in striking distance by causing turnovers with its trademark pressure defense, trimming the Central lead to 24-19 by halftime.
Sikeston caused 15 turnovers in the first half and 26 turnovers in the game.
The Tigers started the third quarter with an 8-0 run to open up a 32-19 lead, but the Bulldogs finally showed signs of life on the offensive end, going on a 9-0 run off three consecutive 3-pointers by Chris Scott and Marqese Parks to cut the lead to 34-30.
But the Tigers seemed to have an answer for every Bulldog run, as Young scored a layup on the ensuing trip and then later converted an old-fashioned 3-point play when Jones tried to draw a charge.
Scott hit his third 3-pointer of the quarter to cut the lead to 41-36, but Cox answered with a conventional 3-point play just seconds later. Sikeston's Reese Porter then scored inside with the foul to cut the lead to 44-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs hung tough early in the fourth quarter but they couldn't get any closer than five points.
Cox got another 3-point play followed by a Parks 3-pointer to cut the lead to 47-42, but Young scored back-to-back layups and Reddin hit a free throw to push the lead to 52-42. Porter scored inside on the ensuing trip, but Cox brought the home crowd to its feet with a one-handed jam on a fast break to lead 54-44 with 5:10 left in the game.
Sikeston never could get it closer than nine the rest of the way. Jones hit a free throw to cut the lead to 61-52 with 1:19 left in the game, but the Tigers' closed the game on a 7-0 run, all by 6-6 junior Andre Statam including an uncontested layup at the buzzer to reach the final margin and the biggest lead of the night.
The Bulldogs shot just 16 of 65 (25 percent) overall from the field, including shooting just 9 of 24 (38 percent) from inside the arc.
"That's athletics," Holifield said. "That's sports and competition. Sometimes it's just not your night. We've been very, very fortunate through the years to take advantage of a lot of situations. Tonight the ball just didn't bounce our way."
Young led the Tigers with 23 points followed by Cox's 20 points.
"They're just really good players," Holifield said of Young and Cox. "They've got great bodies and a lot of talent on their team. You can't say enough about how well they played."
The Tigers offset its turnovers by controlling the boards against the Bulldogs, winning that battle 34 to 25.
One day after scoring a career high 35 points on Thursday, Jones was limited to six points, eight rebounds and three steals. He was 1 of 9 from the field.
Jones was guarded most of the night by 6-3 senior Mikey Jones, the Tigers' football star from last fall.
"We went a lot of box-and-one and tried to mix it up a lot," Church said. "Jones, obviously he scored 35 and he's a great player, We wanted to limit his touches and make him work for them. Mikey Jones was a warrior tonight. He played a lot of minutes and had a tough job of trying to stop Mr. Jones and I was really proud of him."
Scott led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Jairius Ray followed up with 11 points.
It's the third time in the last four meetings that Cape Central has won on its home floor against the Bulldogs.
The victory marks Cape Central's third district title in the last four years, also winning in Class 5 in 2011 and 2012 before falling to Sikeston in the district final its first year in Class 4 last season.
"This one feels really good," Church said. "To be able to play in a game and let alone beat a team like Sikeston is great for these guys. Their program around this area is well known and they have a rich tradition and I have the utmost respect for Gregg and his staff and the job they do."
The Bulldogs were playing in its ninth straight district championship game, an unprecedented accomplishment for large schools in the area.
The loss closes the book on the winningest senior class in school history at Sikeston. With a four-year record of 102-12 the seniors eclipsed last year's senior class with the most wins in a four-year stretch.
The class also has the distinction of forming the first-ever seventh grade team at Sikeston, going undefeated in both the seventh and eighth grade.
Included in the senior class is Jones, a first team all-stater a year ago and an almost certain selection for the honor again this year. The 6-3 post player will finish with his name near the top of many all-time statistical categories at Sikeston.
"He had a great career," Holifield said of Jones. "Tonight he didn't play as well as I know he wanted to, and sometimes that happens. But you can't take anything away from what J.T.'s done. He's had a great career, a great senior year, and he showed up to work and play every day. I'm very proud of him."
Including Jones, the Bulldogs graduate eight seniors in all: Porter, Ray, Harrison, Scott, Parks, Dantrell Brown and Steven Baker.
Holifield pointed out the remarkable story of Ray, who suffered what appeared to be a season-ending and career-threatening broken leg last summer, only to have an inspiring recovery and return to the lineup for his senior year.
"I'm so proud of Jairius who came back from a devastating injury and really put together a nice year," Holifield said. "To be quite honest I didn't know if he would ever play basketball again. For him to come back and do as well as he's done really says something about his character. But all those guys will be special to me. They were low maintenance, no problems, hard workers. They've been a part of a lot of winning. I hate to see them go out with this particular game, but they have nothing to hang their heads about. They've been outstanding throughout their careers and I'm going to miss them."
| Sikeston | 10 | 9 | 20 | 13 | -- | 52 |
| Cape Central | 13 | 11 | 20 | 24 | -- | 68 |
SIKESTON (52) -- Chris Scott 14, Jairius Ray 11, Marqese Parks 8, Reese Porter 7, J.T. Jones 6, Dominique Dyes 3, Zach Harrison 2, Corbyn Blissett 1. FG 9, FT 13-20, F 24. (3-pointers: Scott 4, Parks 2, Dyes 1. Fouled out: Dyes).
CAPE CENTRAL (68) -- Al Young 23, Jamal Cox 20, Andre Statam 11, Jalen Reddin 8, Mikey Jones 4, Chase Hagerty 2. FG 24, FT 14-23, F 16. (3-pointers: Young 1, Reddin 1. Fouled out: none).