NOTRE DAME TURNS SIKESTON TOURNEY UPSIDE DOWN

SIKESTON -- Last Friday, Sikeston High's boys basketball team came to Notre Dame's gymnasium and knocked off the Cape Girardeau squad by two points.

Monday night, Notre Dame got some payback with a thrilling 54-52 win in a battle of Bulldogs during the opening round of the 28th annual Sikeston Tournament.

That result certainly throws the tournament totally upside down because Notre Dame is the eighth and last seed while Sikeston is seeded first.

"You don't see a No. 8 seed beat a No. 1 seed very often, but that says a lot for what kind of tournament this is," said Notre Dame coach Chris Neff. "It's a great win for us. We fought and we fought."

In other first-round games Monday, fifth-seeded Kennett surprised fourth-seeded Poplar Bluff 67-56 while second-seeded Blytheville (Ark.) rallied past seventh-seeded Cape Girardeau Central 70-57.

Notre Dame advances on to tonight's 8:30 semifinal against Kennett.

Also tonight, third-seeded Charleston and sixth-seeded New Madrid County Central complete the opening round with a 5:30 tipoff while Sikeston takes on Poplar Bluff at 7 in consolation play.

Notre Dame 54, Sikeston 52

Notre Dame led much of the way but had to survive a wild sequence toward the end to pull out the victory and improve to 2-1. Sikeston fell to 3-1.

Sikeston's Andre Morgan banked in a 3-pointer from straight on to force a 52-52 tie and send the home town fans on hand into a frenzy.

But Notre Dame pushed the ball back up the court quickly, with John O'Rourke passing to Johnathan Ressel, who found Adam Obermiller underneath the basket for a layup with 13.9 seconds left.

Obermiller was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw, but Morgan missed a 3-pointer at the other end as Notre Dame's players were able to celebrate on Sikeston's court.

"We kept our composure after they hit the 3-pointer," said Neff. "We pushed the ball quickly and got the ball inside."

Don Franklin, battling furiously inside all night, led Notre Dame offensively with 13 points. Michael Gosche added 12 points.

Sikeston got 16 points from Bryan Ellitt, 15 from Morgan and 11 from Tony Jones.

"I think they have an outstanding team," said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield in praising Notre Dame. "We played well at times and other times we didn't, but you have to give them credit."

Notre Dame could have made things a bit easier on itself, but the Bulldogs made only three of 13 free throws. Notre Dame missed seven foul shots in the fourth quarter, including several front ends of one-and-ones.

"We might just need some time at the free-throw line," said Neff with a grin. "It's been a problem for us so far this season, but I thought we outplayed them all night long. Little things hurt us, like free throws and taking care of the ball toward the end."

Notre Dame led 17-9 after one quarter and built a 13-point second-quarter lead before Sikeston rallied to within 31-27 at halftime.

Sikeston grabbed its first lead early in the third quarter and the lead changed hands several times before Notre Dame went back ahead 47-42 entering the final period.

Notre Dame led by six points twice in the fourth quarter before Sikeston rallied for the late tie, which led to Obermiller's winning basket.

Blytheville 70, Cape Central 57

Even though Cape Central fell to 0-3, coach Brett Reutzel was encouraged by the Tigers' performance.

"It was our best outing by far. We played well for three quarters," he said. "I think we just got tired and it affected us in all kinds of ways from turnovers to coming up short on shots."

Ross Conner paced the Tigers with 23 points while Eric Wessel had 18.

Blytheville, now 3-3, got 21 points from Richard Moore and 20 from Shun Green.

After a 14-14 first-quarter tie, Central grabbed a 33-27 halftime lead and the Tigers went up by 10 points in the third quarter.

The Tigers still led 46-43 entering the final period, but the Chickasaws used an 11-0 run to go ahead for good and then pull away.

Kennett 67, Poplar Bluff 56

Prentiss Brown scored 20 points while Larry Green and Anton McKinney both had 12 as Kennett improved to 1-2.

Poplar Bluff, which fell to 1-2, was paced by Travis Tinsley with 11 points and Mike Kilgore with 10.

Kennett led 33-20 at halftime.