Cape Central boys basketball pulls off upset, knocks off unbeaten Sikeston

It’s the kind of thing you come to expect in a good rivalry — the unexpected.

On a night when the raucous energy inside the gymnasium at Cape Central High School was matched by only that of the home team, the Central boys basketball team did what no one else could do this season. It beat Sikeston.

Down by as many as 13 in the first half and eight at halftime, the Tigers got 23 points from standout senior Al Young and played a sparkling second half to drop the top-ranked and previously unbeaten Bulldogs 73-63 in front of a standing-room-only crowd on Friday night.

Cape Central's Austin Parker tips the ball in during the fourth quarter against Sikeston Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 at Cape Central High School. (GLENN LANDBERG)

“It’s great to be in the gym with that atmosphere,” Young said. “For our team to come together like that was really great. We played for the crowd and for the fans and it was great.

“We wanted it real bad. We look on the Internet every day and see, ‘Sikeston’s gonna beat Cape by 30. Sikeston’s gonna beat Cape by 40.’ Nobody had faith in us but us. We just came out there and wanted it more badly tonight.”

Central (19-4, 5-1 SEMO Conference) opened the second half on a 7-1 run that pulled the Tigers within two before a three-point play by Austin Parker knotted things at 40 with 4 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third quarter. It was the first time all game that Central did not trail.

The hosts then took their first lead of the game less than 30 seconds later, when Jawone Newell drove to the hoop, splitting the Sikeston (19-1, 6-1) defense and putting the Tigers up 42-40. Central led the rest of the way.

The Tigers out-scored the Bulldogs 45-27 in the second half.

“I thought we had phenomenal effort,” Central coach Drew Church said. “We didn’t play flawlessly, but our effort was fantastic. We dove on the floor, we tried to take charges, we really crashed the boards, we met passes. Our effort was great, and we stayed tighter. We’re down [13] in the first half, and we stayed together through some hard times.”

The key to the comeback was a slight strategic shift that saw the Tigers pillage Sikeston’s high press. Early in the game, Central slowed the game down and held the ball — an approach that drew boos from the Bulldog faithful, who may now be rethinking that attitude. The Bulldogs’ matchup zone caused some difficulties for the home side in the first half, but in the second half, the Tigers feasted on Sikeston’s pressure, splitting the press at midcourt and getting the ball into space for easy baskets.

“We did make a couple of adjustments at halftime against the press — stuff that we had kind of talked about before the game,” Church said. “And they were coachable. They understood what we wanted to do, and it kind of led to some easier lanes and ways to get to the basket.

Cape Central's Blake Harris works against Sikeston's Earnest Fobbs to pull down the rebound after a free throw in the third quarter Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 at Cape Central High School. (GLENN LANDBERG)

“We made a couple of adjustments on offense — a couple of adjustments on placement and where we wanted the ball — that led to some easy baskets and freed up our guards to pass the ball. But we just talked about fighting. Let’s just fight for 16 minutes and see what happens. They fought for 16 minutes, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Awareness and slick ball movement allowed a team that managed just nine points in the first quarter to score more than 20 in each of the final two quarters. The whole time the ballyhooed Bulldogs — whose average margin of victory this season is over 20 points — were unable to adjust.

“During the course of the game, we just didn’t handle it well,” Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. “We didn’t have enough pressure on the basketball. We just didn’t play well enough defensively, and it can only be corrected in practice. We’ll go to work and try to get better, but what a great job they did.

“I thought they played really well. They did a great job, and we just didn’t have a lot of intensity or make shots. You’ve got to give them credit — I thought they played well, and I thought they had a great game plan. In all facets of the game, I thought they outplayed us.”

Central cut the deficit to just three points with one minute remaining in the second quarter, but Juwon Kimble scored and Fred Thatch knocked down a contested, fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Sikeston a 36-28 advantage and what seemed like momentum going into the break.

But the Tigers responded immediately upon the start of the third quarter, as Young took a steal coast to coast for a basket and a shrinking 36-30 hole. That sparked a 7-1 run, as Tevyn Wright-Hunt came up with another steal and got the ball to Young in transition before it was Young eviscerating the Bulldog defense off the dribble for a 37-35 score.

Kevin Jones hit the front end of two free throws for Sikeston, but quick ball movement set up Parker for the basket and the foul on a game-tying, old-fashioned three-point play. Newell continued his team’s success in the driving lanes by slipping to the bucket for a 42-40 lead — the hosts’ first of the game — at 4:06 of the third quarter.

Zyshon Mallory scored twice for Central before Young capped back-to-back baskets with a putback at 1:27 for a six-point edge. That’s where the gap stayed, as the Tigers slipped the Bulldog press and found Parker near the basket for a 52-46 lead going into the final quarter.

It looked like Sikeston might put together a rally when Thatch put the ball in the basket and drew the foul with 4:53 left on the clock, but he missed the free throw and the 55-52 differential was as close as the visitors got.

Central maintained momentum when Newell took the ball from one end of the floor to the other with 3:15 left, and 20 seconds later the Tigers again broke the press, as Mallory found Parker down the floor for yet another conventional three-point play for the sophomore forward. That play maintained a 62-54 edge for the home side.

“We didn’t hold it as long,” Young said. “In the first half we were holding it and letting their defense get set up, and in the second half we just sped up. We kept it moving, and their defense kept moving. And we found the open spots.”

Fans gather for the game between Cape Central and Sikeston Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 at Cape Central High School. (GLENN LANDBERG)

When Young hit a pair of free throws with 1:19 left to give his team its largest lead of the game, 70-60, it felt like the final dagger for the unbeatable Bulldogs.

Parker had 20 points for the Tigers, while Mallory added 16. Along with his 23 points, Young had 13 rebounds and four assists to lead his team’s sparkling performance — one that stands out in a big way.

“That’s the best game, probably, of all our career right now,” Young said. “It makes a big statement. ... We can’t take anything away from Sikeston. They’re one of the best teams in the area and, right now the best team in the state. You’ve just got to be ready for anything.”

Thatch paced Sikeston with 22 points, but 16 of them came in the first half. Kimble chipped in 18 points.

“They’ve got four guys on the floor that can shoot it very well,” Church said. “They’ve got Thatch — who can go inside and out — who’s a great player. Then they’ve got another big — Kimble — who’s very athletic, crashes the glass and runs the floor. They’re good at every position.

“I thought we guarded pretty well and made their 3s contested and tried to box out. I know they probably killed us on the glass, but I thought we got the ones that counted and that kind of helped us get into transition.”

Sikeston finished the night on 22-of-59 shooting for just 37.3 percent. Central was 31 of 52 (59.7 percent) from the floor.

Sikeston looked to be on the way to win No. 20 for most of the first half. The visiting Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-2 lead at 3:47 of the first quarter after Dominique Dyes drained a 3-pointer. Kimble then knocked down a jump shot to double up the Tigers, 13-6, late in the period and agains scored with 33 ticks left to give Sikeston an 18-9 edge after eight minutes.

The Bulldogs quickly made that 20-9 when Thatch scored on the fast break less than 30 seconds into the second quarter.

Marquon Nelson hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to give Sikeston its biggest lead of the game, 22-9, with seven minutes left in the first half.

Mallory then sparked a 13-4 swing for Central, scoring six points in that span, as the Tigers slipped as close as four points. Parker made the difference just three with 2:35 left until halftime.

It took the Tigers until the second half to finish off the comeback, but they were on their way.

Sikeston will try to bounce back from its only blemish on Tuesday when it hosts New Madrid County Central.

“We take it one day at a time and one practice at a time and continue to work,” Holifield said. “We don’t think about winning or losing. Tonight I thought we were out-worked, they just played better than us in many areas and we just need to get better. Our kids know that.”

Central maintains its regular-season conference title hopes as it travels to Charleston on Tuesday.

Sikeston 18 18 10 17 — 63

Cape Central 9 19 24 21 — 73

SIKESTON (63) — Dominique Dyes 12, Kevin Jones 4, Marquon Nelson 7, Fred Thatch 22, Juwon Kimble 18. FG 22-59, FT 16-24, F 13. (3-pointers: Dyes, Nelson, Thatch. Fouled out: None.)

CAPE CENTRAL (73) — Jawone Newell 6, Al Young 23, Blake Harris 8, Austin Parker 20, Zyshon Mallory 16. FG 31-52, FT 11-16, F 17. (3-pointers: None. Fouled out: None.)