Big third quarter sends Sikeston boys basketball over Notre Dame

SIKESTON -- A close game between Notre Dame and Sikeston isn't anything new.

The longtime rivals have battled for conference and district titles alike on many occasions, and Tuesday night had that same feel. Until, at least, the third quarter.

Top-seeded Sikeston turned a one-point game into a rout, beating No. 8 Notre Dame 69-52 during the first round of the SEMO Conference Tournament at the Sikeston Field House.

Senior Dominique Dyes led Sikeston with 22 points on 6 of 10 shooting, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Freshman Kevin Jones added 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals while senior Juwon Kimble had 15 points and six rebounds.

Notre Dame junior Blake Bauwens and sophomore Dawson Dohogne each had 14 to lead the Bulldogs.

Sikeston's Juwon Kimble shoots over the Notre Dame defense in the SEMO Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

Notre Dame (2-2) kept pace with the tournament favorite throughout the first half by having little problem getting through Sikeston's full-court, pressure defense and, once across the time line, finding shots it wanted.

The visitors opened the first quarter with an 8-2 lead that quickly fell to the wayside once Sikeston found its stroke. The host Bulldogs (3-0) ended the first frame with a 15-4 run to take a 17-12 lead into the second quarter.

Dohogne made his presence felt the most in the second, scoring eight. Notre Dame's offense routinely found the 6-foot-3 postman inside while attacking the basket.

"Coming into the game we said we had to take our time to break the press, and once we break it attack it," Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said. "A lot of times a pressing team doesn't like to be attacked and once you break it you can't let them come back on defense. You have to try and get an easy bucket. That first half, I thought we did a good job of that."

Dohogne gave Notre Dame its last lead of the night with his fourth layup of the second quarter, 23-22 with 2:34 remaining. Dyes' second 3-pointer of the quarter lifted Sikeston right back on top just 16 seconds later, and Kimble found the rim to make it 27-23 with 1:50 to go.

Notre Dame's Danny Dohogne looks to pass after grabbing a rebound against Sikeston in the SEMO Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

Ross Essner drained a 3 with 1:03 left to pull his team within one, 27-26, before halftime.

"We have to get more aggressive in spots and you can tell we're a young team still," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We made some young mistakes. We got careless with the basketball at times. We'll get better and better, but you have to give Notre Dame credit because I thought they played super in the first half."

Things changed to start the second half. Quickly.

Sikeston rattled off a 12-0 run, with it last basket of that swing coming at the 4:55 mark.

"We come out in the third quarter and coach always preaches to us 'the first three minutes,'" Dyes said. "We have to come out strong and we've been able to do that so far. We're a special team and we've been able to do what we've had to do."

Sophomore Fred Thatch, who was held to two points on two free throws in the first half, scored six of his eight in the third quarter. Jones also got going, scoring eight.

Sikeston outscored Notre Dame 21-8 in the third and held a 48-34 lead going into the fourth.

"Credit Sikeston for that, but I also think we psyched ourselves out a little bit," Unterreiner said. "I felt like we didn't play the way we were playing that first half to start the third quarter and I thought Sikeston came out ready to go.

"We got away from some of the things that were making us successful in the first half. You do that for two minutes, Sikeston's going to make you pay for it, and they did."

Notre Dame's biggest nemesis against Sikeston, and throughout its first four games so far this season, has been turnovers. The Bulldogs came into Tuesday night's game averaging 25 a night, and committed 27 against Sikeston.

Three of Notre Dame's first five possessions to start the third ended up in the host's hands, and the top seed scored nine of its first 12 points from them.

"A lot of them were Sikeston forced, but a lot of them were we just stopped running what we were supposed to run," Unterreiner said of his team's turnovers. "We left some of our guys hanging out to dry and you can't do that against Sikeston."

Thatch shot 3 of 12 from the floor, but the 6-2 sophomore found other ways to contribute, with six assists, finding Dyes and Marquan Nelson on the perimeter who combined for six 3-pointers.

"We're a team and that's what we're all about," Holifield said. "Fred Thatch will lead the team in completely sharing the basketball. He doesn't care about that. He wants to win and he's going to be unselfish with the basketball. Those other guys are the same way."

Sikeston will play No. 5 Poplar Bluff on Thursday during the championship semifinals at 6 p.m., while Notre Dame drops to the consolation semifinals against No. 4 Cape Central today at 6 p.m.

Notre Dame 12 14 8 18 -- 52

Sikeston 17 10 21 21 -- 69

NOTRE DAME (52) -- Blake Bauwens 14, Ross Essner 3, Tanner Robert 10, Winston Welter 2, Dawson Dohogne 14, Carson Ketcher 9. FG 21 FT 6-10 F 21. (3-pointers: Bauwens 3, Essner 1. Fouled out: none.)

SIKESTON (69) -- Dominique Dyes 22, Kevin Jones 16, Marquan Nelson 6, Fred Thatch 8, Juwon Kimble 15, Earnest Fobbs 2. FG 22 FT 18-25 F 13. (3-pointers: Dyes 4, Jones 1, Nelson 2. Fouled out: none.)