Top-seeded Sikeston survives big scare from No. 4 Dexter during district semifinal

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Survive and advance.

That is the name of the game during district time and that's exactly what Sikeston did on Monday against Dexter in the semifinal round of the Class 4, District 1 Tournament.

Fourth-seeded Dexter gave Sikeston its biggest scare in the district semifinals in over a decade, but the top-seeded Bulldogs somehow found a way to win, defeating the Bearcats 56-54 at Ste. Genevieve High School.

Sikeston (22-4) advances to the district championship game for the 12th straight year and will face second-seeded Cape Central on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Ste. Genevieve. Cape Central eliminated third-seeded Notre Dame 64-53 in its semifinal game.

"It was a tough game. Dexter played extremely well and they controlled the tempo," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We changed defense multiple times. We adjusted and did everything we could to get them out of a rhythm. You have to give Dexter credit, they had a game-plan and they executed it very well. We're just happy to keep our season alive and move on to the district championship."

Sikeston rallied from a seven-point deficit with four minutes to play. It came down to the final seconds with the score tied 54-54 and junior Fred Thatch heading to the free throw line with 30 seconds left. Thatch missed both free throws, but senior Jason Moore kept the rebound alive, batting it into the hands of freshman Payton Howard who caught the ball in the air in one motion and scored a short bank shot to give the Bulldogs the lead.

"That was just a huge play by a senior and a freshman," Holifield said. "Jason didn't give up on the play. He played his heart out and got just enough of his hand on the ball and Payton showed great poise for a freshman to score the basket. That's two guys that were refusing to lose. The whole team just refused to lose."

Dexter (17-11) moved the ball up the floor and called timeout with 15 seconds left to set up a final play. Out of the timeout with the seconds ticking down, Dexter senior Jason Jarrell drove inside and pulled up for an open mid-range jumper, but it was well short.

Sikeston's Phayzun Fobbs retrieved the loose ball rebound and dribbled out the remainder of the clock to secure the victory, snapping a two-game losing streak for the Bulldogs.

Dexter coach Josh Dowdy said Jarrell had several options on the play, but the Bulldog defense took away the Bearcats' most dangerous option of Ben Sindle, who was spotting up in the corner for a potential game-winning 3-pointer.

Sindle burned the Bulldogs with seven 3-pointers and a game-high 23 points, all coming in the second half.

"It's just a set that we run there," Dowdy said. "We didn't know exactly what Sikeston was going to be in. They were having to matchup against us because of our scheme. We had an open look. We had a high screen for Jason. He came off of it and if the guy helps off of Ben then Jason would have kicked it. They stayed home on Ben because obviously he hit a few shots tonight. Jason had an open look from 12 or 15 feet. It just kind of fell short. Again, it was a good look and if he hits it we go to overtime."

Holifield, who switched between man-to-man and his team's normal 2-3 matchup zone for half of the game, said he wanted to be sure that Sindle would not get the kick-out pass.

"We did not help off on any penetration," he said. "At worst we would take our chances with overtime but we wanted to eliminate all 3-point opportunities."

Dexter started the game by spreading the floor and passing the ball around the perimeter in an effort to slow the tempo.

Dowdy has used the strategy in the past against Sikeston but it has not been successful. But on Monday it worked nearly to perfection as Dexter carried a 9-5 lead after one quarter of play.

Sikeston didn't even score its first field goal until 2:40 left in the first quarter after a Howard 3-pointer.

"We have tried it before with other personnel and I actually thought in the past we would do a better job," Dowdy said. "We haven't had a whole lot of success holding the ball this year, but boy they executed well tonight. That was our only chance -- you know we can't run up and down with these guys. They go eight or nine deep and we had to play seven kids tonight and we usually play six. I told them, 'do you want to shoot well in the first quarter and be down 20-14 and be gassed or do you want to be ahead 9-5 and have the legs to persevere?'"

The Bulldogs took control in the second quarter and led by as much as 20-13 after a Trey Jenkins basket, but Dexter closed the half with four straight points to trail 20-17 by halftime.

Amazingly, Sikeston had just four rebounds as a team at the half.

"We were sluggish. We weren't getting loose balls. We weren't rebounding. To Dexter's credit they were the more physical and aggressive team and we didn't handle it well," Holifield said.

Dexter reclaimed control of the game in the third quarter, out-scoring the Bulldogs 20-15 to take a 37-35 lead into the fourth.

In the final frame, Dexter appeared to be on its way to a shocking upset as they built a 52-45 lead after a Sindle 3-pointer with just over four minutes remaining.

But seconds later Moore answered with a 3-pointer. Then after a Dexter turnover, Thatch drained a 3-pointer with 3:40 left to slice the lead to 52-51.

With 2:53 left, Clay Mullins made 1 of 2 free throws to increase Dexter's lead to 53-51, but Fobbs drilled a clutch 3-pointer 20 seconds later to give Sikeston the lead at 54-53.

Dexter's Gabe Jackson hit 1 of 2 from the free throw line with 1:59 left to tie the game, setting up the final sequence.

Sikeston was led by sophomore Kevin Jones' 17 points, seven steals and four assists before fouling out with 4:47 left in the game. Thatch finished with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

"We were just going to play our zone and try to slow them down and slow down Kevin coming up the floor and we just wanted to find Fred in our zone," Dowdy said. "Late he tried to take over and I think our kids did a pretty good job of getting out there and forcing tough shots."

Fobbs finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Sindle broke Dexter's single-season record for 3-pointers, finishing with 83 on the year to top Shawn Guethle's school mark.

"Ben Sindle didn't even realize this but he broke the school record tonight. He had to have five tonight to tie and he had seven," Dowdy said. "That's just who he is. He isn't worried about records. He stays late and shoots 3's and that's the kind of kid he is."

Jackson finished with 13 points for the Bearcats.

Sikeston forced 20 turnovers on Dexter and only had seven turnovers themselves. However, Dexter controlled the boards as the Bulldogs finished with 20 rebounds as a team.

Sikeston went 9 of 24 (38 percent) from 3-point range.

Sikeston has now defeated Dexter 19 straight times dating back to 2004, but Monday's game was a far cry from the Bulldogs' 84-46 victory over the Bearcats this past December.

Dexter started the season 1-5 but regrouped to win the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament for the first time since 2004 and rattled off 12-straight wins in the middle of the year.

Dexter graduates two seniors: Ryan Mayo and Jarrell.

"We had a tremendous year and our kids showed a lot of guts tonight," Dowdy said. "If we played them 100 times they would beat us 99. We were just going to see if we could beat them that one time. I felt like our kids tried to do that tonight. We executed what we were trying to do. I couldn't be more proud of them. Tonight we represented our entire town, school, and ourselves in a great manner. If you're going to lose a basketball game and end your season, I think that's the way to do it against a class program like Sikeston. We wish them all the best moving forward."

Sikeston and Cape Central will meet for the district championship for the fourth time in the last five years. Sikeston defeated the Tigers 82-76 in the two teams' previous meeting this year on Feb. 10.

"We know it will be a very difficult game," Holifield said. "They have as much quickness and athleticism as anybody we have gone against. It will be a tremendous challenge and we will have to work extremely hard to get the job done. I love my team and I trust that our kids will show up to play and represent themselves very well."

DEXTER (54) -- Ben Sindle 23, Gabe Jackson 12, Clay Mullins 9, Jason Jarrell 8, Dawon Kasting 2. FG 20, FT 7-10, F 18. (3-pointers: Sindle 7. Fouled out: Kasting, Ryan Mayo).

SIKESTON (56) -- Kevin Jones 17, Fred Thatch 13, Phayzun Fobbs 9, Payton Howard 7, Jason Moore 5, Trey Jenkins 4, Dylon Mills 1. FG 18, FT 11-20, F 16. (3-pointers: Jones 3, Thatch 2, Fobbs 2, Howard 1, Moore 1. Fouled out: Jones).