Living up to the hype

Sikeston junior Niquavious Dixon watched his cousin and good friend Bobby Hatchett jump toward the basket for the game-winning shot.

Dixon, who is 6 foot 1, jumped up, too, and was there to block it. And just like that -- Sikeston won a thriller 86-85 in front of 7,121 fans packed into the Show Me Center.

"He came to the basket and our coach asked us to gut it out, and I just gave it my all," Dixon said. "I went up there and blocked it. It was great. It's been 30-plus years since we played, and it was a good atmosphere out there tonight."

Dixon said his block was clean and he did not commit a foul on Hatchett.

"He wouldn't say nothing to me [right after the game], but when we got outside, he gave me a look and told me we were still cool," Dixon said.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comScott County Central guard Bobby Hatchett splits Sikeston defenders Will Holifield, left, and Michael Porter for a basket to end the first half Wednesday at the Show Me Center.

Hatchett said he thinks Dixon fouled him, but the Scott County guard added that Dixon's block was not the reason his Braves team lost. He said the reason his team lost was because of the way Sikeston 6-6 senior Michael Porter played in the second half.

Porter was pretty much unstoppable inside. He scored 33 in the game -- 24 coming after the half. He scored 15 in the fourth period alone.

"I was fouled, but that ain't what lost us the game," Hatchett said. "Michael [was the difference] -- his inside scoring. But it was everything. Just the little things -- rebounding, and all the little things we didn't do that they did tonight.

"I've been playing with [Porter] since elementary. That's my cousin. I know what he can do. I knew what he was going to do. It was just that we had to contain him. He's an animal. He's a beast."

Hatchett was the one doing the scoring in the third quarter. After he had just three points in the first half, Hatchett netted 12 in the third.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comBraves sophomore Otto Porter eyes the basket during Wednesday's game.

Hatchett led his team on a 9-0 run during the final 1 minute, 12 seconds of the third quarter to help the Braves jump ahead 72-69 entering the fourth.

The Braves maintained a lead for most of the fourth and were ahead 83-77 with 2:39 left. That was around the time that Porter started to take over. And it was exactly the time when Michael Porter and his cousin, Scott County 6-7 center Otto Porter, exchanged a few words.

"When they were up by five, we had the ball, he said, 'This is it,'" Michael Porter said. "I said, 'Come on, let's go.'"

Michael Porter went on to score the last nine points of the contest. He pulled a rebound away from Otto Porter with 18 seconds left and scored on a reverse layin. That made it 86-85, and proved to be the game-winning shot.

"Our crowd just helped us pull it through the downtime, and they helped us get back up, and we got on top and pulled it out," said Michael Porter, who has entertained interest from Southeast Missouri State.

Braves senior Drew Thomas draws a foul from Sikeston defender Daryl Howard.

Otto Porter said Michael Porter was too tough to contain in the fourth quarter.

"He told his team it was time to go and to pick it up," Otto Porter said. "We tried not to let him do that. Once he gets going, he's pretty hard to stop. It was hard. We just didn't box him out. That was the main thing in getting rebounds."

Michael Porter collected 14 rebounds, and said a big reason why his team was able to win was because it contained Otto Porter in the second half.

A fan sitting in the front of the Show Me Center yelled out "Otto Porter is the man tonight" during the second quarter, and the Braves student section called him "Ottomatic." That was deserving as Otto scored 20 in the first half. But Sikeston switched from a zone defense to man-to-man at halftime.

Once it was in the man-to-man, Sikeston let Otto Porter score only two points in the second half.

"First half he dominated because we played a zone," Michael Porter said of his cousin. "I talked to my uncles and everything before the game, and I told them if we play zone, he's going to eat us up. But if we play man-to-man, I'm going to get the better half of him. We went to man-to-man and he didn't score too much."