Menu
Sikeston swarms Notre Dame 62-32 to end skid
SIKESTON -- Not many people saw this one coming.
Here's Sikeston, losers of three straight, hosting Notre Dame on Friday, which is coming off an impressive 65-48 road win over newly crowned SEMO Conference Tournament champion New Madrid County Central.
Sikeston, with a roster of two returning varsity regulars, responds by defeating the senior heavy Notre Dame squad, 62-32.
Go figure.
Such is life in the SEMO Conference where no game is a picnic.
Notre Dame had already won two of the toughest road games in the league by defeating Charleston and NMCC, but pulling off a third road win over what seemed to be a reeling Sikeston team proved more difficult than most would have thought.
But not Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner.
"Sikeston's never primed for the picking," Unterreiner said. "I don't care how many games they lose in a row. Coach (Gregg) Holifield's too good a coach to think you're going to come in here and beat them in the Field House."
The win is Sikeston's 12th in the last 16 meetings with Notre Dame, but the first against Unterreiner, who is in his first season as the head coach at the school.
Sikeston dominated the game from the start and never let up, forcing 22 turnovers and limiting them to 1 of 10 shooting from 3-point range while hitting just 11 of 23 (48 percent) from the free throw line.
"They came out ready to go and we didn't," Unterreiner said. "It's that simple. Anytime you give a good team a chance to hop on you early, they're going to run with it, especially Sikeston. Coach Holifield does an unbelievable job with them and after losing three straight you knew they were going to come out ready. We just didn't match their intensity the whole game."
Following the Bulldogs' defeats Holifield put a focus on rebounding and defense in practice.
"We've had some really good practices," Holifield said. "We always call it a sense of urgency. Our guys really came together as a team offensively and defensively and rebounding. We really did some good things. I was really proud of our kids. I thought they played hard. I thought we had good energy and good effort and I thought we took a lot of pride in what we were doing. It's a consistent daily effort to get us better and our guys really came in with great attitudes the last two or three days and we've worked hard and I think it helped us."
Friday's contest was atypical of most of the classic down-to-the-wire Sikeston-Notre Dame matchups.
This game was one-sided from the start.
Sikeston (3-3, 2-0 SEMO Conference) raced out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed, leading 13-6 after one quarter.
At the beginning of the second period, Notre Dame (3-3, 2-1 SEMO Conference) closed the gap to 13-10 but wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way.
Sikeston finished the second quarter on a 13-2 run to lead 26-12 at halftime and it was never in doubt after that.
The Bulldogs forced 12 turnovers and held Notre Dame without a 3-pointer in the first half.
The Bulldogs put the game away in the third quarter, out-scoring Notre Dame 21-13 to take a commanding 47-25 lead heading into the final frame.
There, Sikeston enforced the mercy clock, reaching its biggest lead at 62-29 when freshman Fred Thatch followed up a missed shot with an emphatic stick-back dunk with three minutes to go in the game.
It was one of 17 offensive rebounds for the Bulldogs over the far bigger and taller Notre Dame squad.
"I'm scared to see what the rebound total is," Unterreiner said. "They easily out-rebounded us double, maybe triple. And that's something that we pride ourselves on is rebounding and we didn't do that tonight."
The margin wasn't quite as lopsided as Unterreiner's fears, but Sikeston still out-rebounded Notre Dame convincingly, 31-19.
The Bulldogs also shot well from the free throw line, hitting 19 of 23 (83 percent) for the game.
But the key to this game, for Holifield, was his team's defense.
"We've spent a ton of time on closeouts and trying to get to 3-point shooters," Holifield said. "It's just positioning and effort. I thought we did a pretty good job at times tonight defensively. Our teams' success is normally predicated on our defense and I thought for the first time this year I started to see some things happen. But we know there's going to be bumps in the road. We have a ton of inexperience on the floor. There's going to be ups and downs, but we carried over some things we've worked on the last two days."
Four Bulldog players reached double figures in scoring led by Thatch's 18 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Junior Anthony Coleiro had 13 points and five steals. Senior Corbyn Blissett had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds with three assists and three steals. Junior Dominique Dyes added 10 points with five rebounds.
But one player that only scored two points, but had a major impact in the game was 6-foot-4 senior Donnell Cobb, who drew two charges and had several standout defensive plays.
"He can be a really good defender," Holifield said of Cobb. "First of all he's long. He has great length. He works hard. He's very conscientious in what he's doing out there. He's one of those guys that doesn't have a lot of experience on the varsity level, but he's going to get better every day. He does a lot of the little things that go unnoticed. I thought he did a terrific job defensively closing out on shooters and I thought he did a great job drawing the charges."
The Bulldogs won't play again until the St. Dominic Christmas Tournament in which they got the second seed and will play No. 7 Parkway North on Friday.
Holifield is anxious to see if his team can gain consistency and build on Friday's win.
"We'll have to wait and see," Holifield said. "Can we come in here and consistently work these next few days of practice? We play a difficult opponent on the road Friday. That's a tournament you better show to play every second. You have to carry it over day to day. You can't relax. You have to continue to work. We are a team. It's all about the team. There's no individual more important than the other. It's a complete team concept in every facet of the game. I hope to think we'll carry it over and get better each day."
| Notre Dame | 6 | 6 | 13 | 7 | -- | 32 |
| Sikeston | 13 | 13 | 21 | 15 | -- | 62 |
NOTRE DAME (32) -- Dean Crippen 12, Derek Hulshof 8, Quinn Poythress 7, Ross Essner 4, Nick Bradshaw 3, Chase Urhahn 2. FG 9 FT 11-23 F 19. (3-pointers: Poythress 1. Fouled out: Trenton Schumer.)
SIKESTON (62) -- Fred Thatch 18, Anthony Coleiro 13, Corbyn Blissett 12, Dominique Dyes 10, Earnest Fobbs 4, Donnell Cobb 2, Juwon Kimble 2, Jaylen Mallory 1. FG 17 FT 19-23 F 20. (3-pointers: Dyes 2, Coleiro 1. Fouled out: none.)
Junior varsity
The Sikeston JV team fell to 5-2 on the season, owing both its losses to Notre Dame, this time losing 50-41.
Sikeston was led by Jason Moore with nine points.
| Notre Dame | 12 | 14 | 11 | 11 | -- | 50 |
| Sikeston | 4 | 16 | 9 | 12 | -- | 41 |
NOTRE DAME (50) -- Nick Powers 15, Dawson Dohogne 13, Andrew LeGrand 9, Jake Edwards 7, Winston Welker 2, Tanner Robert 2, Josh Seabaugh 2, Garrett Siebert 2, Blake Seesing 1. FG 12 FT 17-32 F 18. (3-pointers: Powers 2, LeGrand 1. Fouled out: none.)
SIKESTON (41) -- Jason Moore 9, Austin Branch 8, Sam Cox 8, Phayzun Fobbs 4, Deven Blackmon 4, Dylon Mills 3, Marquan Nelson 3, Don Larry 2. FG 13 FT 12-19 F 26. (3-pointers: Branch 1. Fouled out: none.)