Central boys basketball season ends with lopsided loss to Sikeston

SIKESTON, Mo. -- There are no gimmes in the SEMO Conference, especially in the postseason.

Central found out the hard way.

The second-seeded Tigers had beaten Sikeston twice this season before Friday night's Class 4 District 1 semifinal, but the No. 3 Bulldogs found victory the third time around and cruised to a 75-43 rout at the Sikeston Field House.

"They put it to us, plain and simple," Central coach Drew Church said. "They beat us in every aspect of the game. I'm disappointed, to say the least. They're a good team. They're going to have a shot tomorrow. ... They shot it well. They guarded well. Every shot we took was hard, and we weren't here."

Sikeston (18-8) will compete in its 10th straight district title game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs will take on Notre Dame, which upended Kennett 75-58 in Friday's first semifinal.

The two teams last met in the district final on Feb. 24, 2012, when Sikeston upset Notre Dame 74-46 at the field house.

"They're a great program, and we've been in so many district championship games with Notre Dame," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "It's been unbelievable over the past 12 or 13 years some of the games we've had with those guys."

Notre Dame and Sikeston met one time this season on Dec. 19, when Sikeston forced a running clock and came away with a 62-32 home win. Notre Dame responded by rattling off 12 consecutive wins.

"We understand that game two months ago means absolutely nothing other than the fact that it was two months ago. ... I think they're outstanding. They've won a ton of games this season," Holifield said about Notre Dame. "Their coach has done a great job, and we know how difficult it's going to be. They have a great player, in my opinion, and they have guys surrounding him that play their role really well.

"There's nobody in this area in Southeast Missouri that respects Notre Dame more than I do. I can assure you of that."

After Al Young scored the first points of the game and gave Central (20-7) a 2-0 lead on a fastbreak dunk with 4:02 left in the first quarter, Donnell Cobb responded by burying a 3-pointer from the right corner to give Sikeston the lead.

The Tigers tied the game once at 5-all, but freshman Fred Thatch knocked down a trey from the top of the key with 1:53 remaining in the period. Central trailed the Bulldogs 10-5 at the end of the first quarter and failed to find an answer for Thatch, who tallied a double-double with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Sikeston's Fred Thatch (33) and Cape Central's Blake Harris (22) fight for rebounding position in a Class 4, District 1 semifinal game on Friday night at the Sikeston Field House. (David Jenkins photo)

"He attacked a little better tonight," said Church, whose team held Thatch to 13 points in a 61-50 road win last month. "He got us into a little foul trouble, and we allowed him to catch too much. He's a good player. He's going to get his. I thought, defensively, we let them have too much tonight. I thought we let them get straight-line drives, too many easy, open looks. It just wasn't our night."

The Tigers fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but a putback from Andre Statam cut Sikeston's lead to eight points with 1:05 left in the first half. After Young was called for a charge, Church argued the foul and was called for a technical. Corbyn Blissett knocked down both free throws, and Juwon Kimble scored on a putback as time expired during a 6-0 spurt in the final minute of the period to help the Bulldogs build a 35-21 lead at halftime.

"That's one of our points of emphasis, the last three minutes of the first half and the first three minutes of the second half, and I thought we had some hustle plays there and were fortunate to build a lead," Holifield said.

The third quarter was highlighted by Dominique Dyes, who scored 12 of his 14 points on 4-of-5 (80 percent) shooting from beyond the arc in the period.

"He's such a hard worker. He's conscientious, and I don't know if people realize how good of a shooter he really is. I watch him every day, and he can shoot it," Holifield said. "He's been shooting with confidence, and I have a lot of confidence when he's in a position to take good shots."

The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 24-15 in the third quarter and carried a 59-36 lead into the final period.

Church said his players struggled to locate shooters in the third quarter, which led to a number of defensive breakdowns.

"We kind of got frustrated and lost people and didn't know where they were, and that hurt," Church said. "Tonight they knocked down shots. When Sikeston knocks down shots and can get straight-line drives and get the ball inside, they're tough to beat."

Sikeston finished with a 36-27 edge on the boards, and Central failed to secure an offensive rebound in the second half.

Holifield said his players learned the importance of rebounding from last month's loss to the Tigers.

"You have to give them credit. They came in here a few weeks ago and really played well. They just beat us, and our players, after that defeat, got a sense of urgency and really worked hard to try to put our team in a position to build a lead and work," Holifield said. "I can't complain one bit with our team. I like them. They're good guys. They work hard, and the last two weeks, they've had a complete sense of urgency. We've really played well down the stretch."

Blissett finished with 15 points, Dyes added 14 points and Kimble contributed 10 points for the Bulldogs, who shot 41 percent on 26-of-64 shooting from the floor.

Young scored 18 points to lead Central, while Statam, a Jacksonville State signee, added 11 points in his final high school game.

"I hate to see these three seniors that I have go out on this note after the great careers they've had here, but maybe this will give our younger kids, the guys coming back next year, six months to think about this score. And hopefully that gives them a little motivation," Church said.

Sikeston 10 25 24 16 -- 75

Central 5 16 15 7 -- 43

SIKESTON (75) -- Fred Thatch 20, Corbyn Blissett 15, Dominique Dyes 14, Juwon Kimble 10, Donnell Cobb 8, Jaylen Mallory 5, Earnest Fobbs 2, Sam Cox 1. FG 26-64, FT 15-21, F 13. (3-pointers: Dyes 4, Cobb 2, Mallory 1, Thatch 1. Fouled out: None.)

CENTRAL (43) -- Al Young 18, Andre Statam 11, Kway'Chon Chisom 6, Chase Hagerty 4, Nikylus Thompson 2, Blake Harris 2. FG 16-54, FT 8-12, F 18. (3-pointers: Young 2, Statam 1. Fouled out: Hagerty.)