Menu
Sikeston blows out Poplar Bluff, Thatch leads way with 39
POPLAR BLUFF -- It was hyped as the biggest game in the SEMO Conference this year, but the Sikeston Bulldogs once again showed their superiority against the Poplar Bluff Mules.
Sikeston dominated the Mules in every facet of the game on their way to an impressive 102-66 victory in front of a sellout crowd at Poplar Bluff's shiny new gymnasium. It's Sikeston's ninth straight win over Poplar Bluff and 16th win in the last 17 meetings. The Mules haven't defeated Sikeston since 2009.
The Bulldogs, led by all-state guard Fred Thatch's 39 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists, were not going to be stopped on this night. Not even close.
"It was big time," Thatch said. "We played hard and aggressive. We played as a team. Everybody stepped it up a notch and I thought it was a great win. I just wanted to play hard and win."
Sikeston sophomore guard Kevin Jones scored 15 points with four rebounds, eight assists and seven steals.
The 5-foot-11 Jones said he has had this game circled on his calendar for some time now.
"We've been waiting for this game for a long time," he said. "They have some players coming in talking some trash so we just wanted to show who's the best."
Sikeston (17-2, 5-0 SEMO Conference) established a blistering pace that Poplar Bluff could not match as the Bulldogs got countless breakaway layups and consistently broke down the Mules' man-to-man defense with drives off the dribble, pick-and-roll plays and back-door cuts.
"I feel like we came out with a lot of intensity," Sikeston senior Jason Moore said. "We came out strong, positive and ready to play. We came out to attack and we had blood in our eyes and we knew that we would get the win."
The Mules (13-7, 3-2 SEMO Conference) came into the game having won seven of its last eight and also welcomed the return of 5-star recruit Mercedes Leech, who sat out Tuesday's win against New Madrid County Central with back spasms.
Despite Leech's return, the presence of 6-foot-6 senior Willie Lucas as well as 6-3 sophomore Dominique Hardimon, who was a standout at South Pemiscot last year, the Mules struggled with ball security, rebounding and eventually resorted to launching extremely deep 3-pointers in the second half to try to keep pace with the Bulldogs.
"I think Sikeston was a little physical, especially during the stretch of those runs," Poplar Bluff coach William Durden said. "We kind of shied away. We should have been pounding the ball and shooting layups in their zone. It opened up for us, instead we didn't."
The first quarter featured runs by both teams.
Sikeston went on an early 8-0 run to lead 10-5 following a Moore 3-pointer, forcing Durden to burn a timeout.
Later in the quarter, the Mules went on a 10-0 run after a deep Leech 3-pointer off the fastbreak to lead 21-15 forcing Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield to burn a timeout of his own.
The Bulldogs responded out of the timeout with a 7-0 run including a runout by Jones on a long pass from Thatch with a few seconds remaining to lead 22-21 at the end of the first.
Sikeston built the lead to 26-21 following a Thatch 3-pointer, but the Mules got an old-fashioned 3-point play from Lucas and a Leech 25-footer from the top of the key to give the Mules a 27-26 lead with 6:45 left in the second quarter.
It was the last lead the Mules would have.
Later in the period, with Thatch, Jones and 6-6 sophomore Trey Jenkins all spending time on the bench with foul trouble, Moore and Phayzun Fobbs drilled 3-pointers to help extend the lead for the Bulldogs.
Sikeston junior Dylon Mills had four points and freshman Payton Howard scored a couple fast break layups to help the Bulldogs cause. Then with the clock ticking down in the half, Mills found Howard in the corner for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Bulldogs into the locker room with its biggest lead of the night at 53-42 much to the approval of the huge contingent of Sikeston fans that made the trip.
"That was just a huge sequence," Holifield said. "On that last play Dylon was patient and didn't force anything and he made the right decision with a pass on time to Payton. I knew he was going to make it as soon as he caught it. I didn't even watch it."
The Bulldogs put the game away with a third quarter blitz that showcased some of the most impressive basketball Sikeston has played this year.
It started with five straight turnovers by the Mules to start the period which led to three straight fast break layups by Jenkins. Thatch then scored inside after another turnover and then took a feed from Moore in transition for a monster two-handed slam to lead 63-44, forcing Durden to use another timeout.
"The wheels fell off," Durden said. "We got frustrated and we stopped playing. We stopped doing the things that we did well during the stretch of the first quarter and Sikeston feeds off that. Start of the third quarter they got three straight layups because we didn't get somebody back because our kids were frustrated about something on the other end. Sikeston is too good of a team for us to have those mental lapses in the third quarter. This is two years in a row that's kind of what happened to us. We just go to sleep and you look up and it's 20 [point deficit.]"
The onslaught continued from there.
Thatch took over even more, scoring inside and outside, following up a missed layup with a two-handed dunk and draining two more 3-pointers to lead 89-61 heading into the fourth quarter.
Thatch scored 16 of the Bulldogs' 36 points in the period.
"Night in and night out, he's the kind of guy that shows up and produces," Holifield said of Thatch. "The biggest thing is he shows up and practices hard every day. He's one of those guys that is a worker and does the very best that he can. He's always in a great mood with a great attitude and that's so important to our team."
Thatch shot 13 of 21 (62 percent) from the field while draining a career-high five 3-pointers.
"Yeah, he's good. He's a good player," Durden said of Thatch. "He's physical. He runs that team. I thought early we did a good job on him but down late we let him catch everything in rhythm. You let a good player play with rhythm, you're in for a long night and that's what happened. He got his rhythm at the free throw line. He was struggling from the outside and he went to the paint. Then we just let him catch everything in rhythm. The basket opened up for him, then everybody started throwing it in. You give a team some confidence and everybody shoots the ball better."
Sikeston quickly enforced the mercy clock in the fourth quarter to put a swift end to the game as B.J. Hill's free throw put the Bulldogs over the century mark for the second time this season.
It's the first time a Durden-coached team, now in his 123rd game as the Mules coach, has allowed 100 points.
Sikeston made a season-high in 3-pointers, going 11 of 24 (46 percent). Overall from the field the Bulldogs shot 37 of 65 (57 percent).
"Everybody shot with confidence," Moore said. "Coach Holifield has us in the gym every day shooting, working on jumpers and working hard."
Sikeston also controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Mules 36 to 31, including 13 offensive rebounds.
Sikeston forced 16 turnovers on the Mules while committing just six turnovers themselves. The Bulldogs also had 27 assists as a team.
"We knew they were going to try to focus on Fred so just kicking the ball up," Jones said. "We hit a lot of shots and we just worked hard. We've been in the gym with hard practices. High-intensity practices."
Holifield noted Jones' strong play throughout the night.
"Kevin's a great point guard and when he's got that mindset that he's going to get everyone involved and run the offense, you saw tonight as a sophomore it doesn't get any better than him," Holifield said. "He's very aggressive and tough defensively. He rebounds. He does so many things to help control the tempo of the game."
Poplar Bluff shot 23 of 57 (40 percent) overall from the field while making just 5 of 24 (21 percent) from 3-point range.
The 6-foot-6 Leech, who has been named one of the top 25 recruits in the country for the class of 2019, finished with 22 points, including four 3-pointers, all of which were well beyond NBA range.
Hardimon finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. Lucas had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Rodney Houston was the only other Mule to score, posting seven points.
"After that first half we guarded a little bit better but, they still had what? 50?" Durden said. "We foul too much in the first half and we guarded a little better but the third quarter, I mean, you could just see it on the kids' faces. Frustration set in and it was over with. Our kids couldn't climb out of that and we've got to be a tougher team. Not everything is going to go our way. They got to understand that."
Jenkins scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter. He also had a pair of blocks. Howard had nine points and three assists while Fobbs scored eight points with three assists. Moore had six points and five assists. Junior JeQuan Ray also provided crucial minutes off the bench in the second quarter.
"We're a complete team," Holifield said. "These guys get along very well. They practice hard together and they play well together. That's what makes a good team. Our guys have really had two good weeks. You can see that they had a mindset. They've practiced hard together and you can tell the hard work has paid off because the things we focused on I thought they did a great job. It was our night tonight and we played very well. I'm sure [Poplar Bluff] will bounce back. They're super-talented and they're a team that has a great opportunity to win their district tournament. Coach Durden always has them playing well and I'm sure they'll regroup and do some good things."
Sikeston does not have much time to celebrate as they are scheduled to host defending Class 3 state champion Father Tolton of Columbia on Saturday with junior varsity action starting at 3 p.m. at the Field House
"Hopefully we can come out with the same type of intensity tomorrow and play as well as we can," Holifield said.
Sikeston 22 31 36 13 -- 102
Poplar Bluff 21 21 19 5 -- 66
SIKESTON (102) -- Fred Thatch 39, Trey Jenkins 16, Kevin Jones 15, Payton Howard 9, Phayzun Fobbs 8, Jason Moore 6, Dylon Mills 6, B.J. Hill 3. FG 37, FT 17-25, F 16. (3-pointers: Thatch 5, Fobbs 2, Moore 2, Howard 1, Jones 1. Fouled out: none).
POPLAR BLUFF (66) -- Mercedes Leech 22, Dominique Hardimon 21, Willie Lucas 16, Rodney Houston 7. FG 23, FT 15-22, F 20. (3-pointers: Leech 4, Lucas 1. Fouled out: none).
Junior varsity
The Sikeston J.V. team improved to 10-3 on the season with a 49-39 win over Poplar Bluff.
Sikeston's Clark Steward scored 11 points with six rebounds. Dylon Mills had 11 points with eight rebounds. B.J. Hill had nine points with five assists and three steals. JeQuan Ray had seven points and seven rebounds. Lorandis Phillips had nine rebounds.
Sikeston 10 11 13 15 -- 49
Poplar Bluff 17 5 9 8 -- 39
SIKESTON (49) -- Dylon Mills 11, Clark Steward 11, B.J. Hill 9, JeQuan Ray 7, Payton Howard 6, Lorandis Phillips 4, Elijah Faulkner 1. FG 15. FT 15-19, F 15. (3-pointers: Hill 1, Ray 1, Mills 1, Howard 1. Fouled out: none).
POPLAR BLUFF (39) -- Josiah Kilgore 11, Xander Martin 8, Tyler Cline 6, John Taylor 4, Jaishaud Moore 4, Jalen Lathow 2, Carlton McDonald 2, Tracy Hawkins 2. FG 15, FT 3-13, F 16. (3-pointers: Martin 2, Cline 2, Kilgore 2. Fouled out: none).