Youth leads Sikeston to win over Blackcats

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs basketball team bounced back from an emotional loss to Charleston on Friday with a 62-39 victory against Class 4, District 1 foe Fredericktown on Tuesday at the Field House.

The win improves the Bulldogs to 7-3 on the season and they are now 3-0 against district opponents this season.

Sikeston jumped out to a quick lead on the Blackcats in Tuesday's game as they never trailed in the contest.

"This is a big win for us because it's a district game," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. "They came in here with eight wins and we knew they would be very competitive and well-coached. I thought our intensity on defense was good. We spent some time on it the last couple of days and I thought our positioning was better."

That defense was the catalyst for Tuesday's game, limiting the Blackcats to 39 points, the lowest point total allowed this season by the Bulldogs.

Sikeston's Julian Beard goes in for a layup.

Sikeston's Julian Beard goes in for a layup.

The Bulldogs built a 21-8 first quarter lead and never looked back.

Although, Fredericktown (8-6) managed to make things interesting after draining three 3-pointers in the early going of the second quarter, cutting the lead to 26-22 with 3:42 left.

"They battled back -- we had a little bit of a lapse there for about three minutes in the second quarter and we lost our focus after we got the big lead," said Holifield. "We just have to sustain and push through those things. We responded pretty well and built a lead going into halftime."

But Sikeston went on a 13-2 run to close the half, taking a 39-24 lead into halftime.

The Bulldogs were never threatened after that.

"The intensity level and the quickness -- we don't see that a whole lot," said Fredericktown head coach Brett Reutzel. "You can talk about it all you want, but when you're not used to it you get shell-shocked a little bit."

Sikeston's defense took over in the second half as they limited the Blackcats to six points in the third quarter and 15 total.

Sikeston took a 51-30 lead into the fourth quarter.

Sikeston junior point guard Blake Taylor had one of the best games of his varsity career, scoring a career-high 23 points with four rebounds and four assists.

"I thought Blake Taylor really stepped up and played his best game of the year and really led us," said Holifield.

Freshman Michael Porter had 11 points with five rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.

Senior Rod Moore had 10 points and three steals. Isaac Porter had eight points with four assists and three steals.

In all, 50 of Sikeston's 62 points were scored by underclassmen.

"We didn't play very well Friday and this is a nice bounce back win for us," said Holifield. "Our team has realistic goals of what we want to accomplish. All of our goals are right there on the table for us to achieve. We went back to work this week and had some good practices and the kids have responded well. Our team attitude is very good."

Fredericktown's Dustin Bess led his team with nine points, all on three 3-

pointers.

The Blackcats his six 3-pointers on the night.

"I don't think we're playing real well right now," said Reutzel. "At the same time I don't think we can make up 23 points, but I think we can play a better ballgame than we did tonight. But a lot of that's due to Sikeston and coach Holifield and how they play."

Fredericktown hosts Farmington on Friday at 6 p.m. Sikeston will host Scott City on Friday at 6 p.m.

The Sikeston J.V. team improved to 8-3 on the season with a 68-24 victory against Fredericktown.

Sikeston led 18-9 after one quarter and 42-11 at halftime.

Dominic Fondon, a 6-foot-5 freshman, had 17 points with seven rebounds and two blocks.

James Bonner had 12 points with five rebounds and three steals and Stephen Jackson had 12 points with six rebounds.

Freshman Courvirseya Strickland had six points and five assists in his first J.V. game.

Sherwin Jones had four points and four steals.

Fredericktown was led by Kaleb Francis with 10 points.

Sikeston plays Perryville tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Cape J.V. Tournament.