Off to a fast start

~Bulldogs go on 9-0 run to start game; hold off Blytheville for first win

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs wasted no time getting the new season off to a good start, jumping out 9-0 on the Blytheville, Ark. Chickasaws en route to a 59-51 win Tuesday night.

"We just got whipped," said Blytheville coach David Hixson. "We got off to a horrendous start. They got off to a 9-0 start and we were just waiting to get a basket."

Juqualin Wiggins started the scoring off with a basket for the Bulldogs, followed by a Matt Ritch 3-pointer and a Dominic Fondon slam dunk. A Cal Lane stick-back made it 9-0 with 4:30 left to play in the first quarter.

"We came out and were excited and energetic," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. "But Blytheville is so quick and well-coached, we knew they weren't going to go away."

Michael Porter looks to score in the first half against Blytheville, Ark.

Michael Porter looks to score in the first half against Blytheville, Ark.

Blytheville closed to 16-8 after one quarter but Sikeston responded with a 6-2 run to start the second quarter to go up 22-10 and led 34-19 at the half after a Fondon lay up and free throw with just 2 seconds remaining.

However, Blytheville got to within six at 36-30 in the third quarter after seven-straight points by Jeramey Golden and four by Gabriel Osagie. But a basket by Lane and a 3-pointer by Ritch put Sikeston back up 41-30 and they were never threatened again.

"We knew they wouldn't go away and we would have to keep battling and competing," Holifield said. "We had some moments when we had some big rebounds."

The Bulldogs dominated the glass, pulling down 40 rebounds on the night, including 12 by Michael Porter and six from Lane.

"They've got a good basketball team and they just absolutely dominated us on the offensive glass," Hixson said. "A lot of that is the fact that they're good, very athletic, very tall."

Sikeston's Matt Ritch drives to the basket

Sikeston's Matt Ritch drives to the basket

Blytheville also seemed out of sync as the Bulldogs employed a zone defense rather than their normal man-to-man.

"Gregg's a good coach and he came out in a zone and we play man-to-man so that's what we work on every day," Hixson said. "We were trying to run our offense against our man and we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked working with zone. They had a good zone and had a great game plan."

The zone all but eliminated the inside game of the Chickasaws, forcing them to shoot outside.

"We're not normally a zone team but I thought at times we moved pretty well in it," Holifield said. "We're long and our size did cause some problems down there."

While the zone caused problems for Blytheville, the Chickasaws man-to-man created their own problems for Sikeston as the Bulldogs finished the night with 22 turnovers.

"We got a careless and a little wild at times but for the first game of the year I was proud of the effort," Holifield said. "For us to be good we rebound well and we have to take care of the basketball, which we didn't do at times tonight. But your going to do that early in the year against teams like Blytheville."

Sikeston was led in scoring by Lane's 13 points. " (Lane) gets off the ground good, he's just a great athlete," Holifield said "He's just going to get better and better."

Porter also finished in double figures with 12 points while Blytheville was led in scoring by Osagie's 20 points.

Sikeston is 1-0 for the first time since the 2002-2003 season and will travel to Dexter Friday to take on the Bearcats.

Sikeston (1-3) came up short in the junior varsity game 47-42. Blytheville led 37-30 after the third quarter but a Niquavious Dixon 3-pointer cut the Chickasaw lead to 43-42 with 19 seconds remaining. However, Blytheville hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Sikeston was led in scoring by Eli Jackson's eight points.