Sikeston boys romp past rival Notre Dame to claim district basketball title

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Senior Caleb McGee launched the ball into the air just before the final horn sounded Friday night.

He let out a load roar and scurried over to the Sikeston students section to celebrate the school's fourth consecutive district title game victory over Notre Dame.

"Especially after losing that one up there [at Notre Dame] and getting the No. 2 seed, kind of getting disrespected a little bit, to be able to come out my senior year, my last game in this field house in front of all these great fans and give a win like that, no words can explain that," McGee said.

Sikeston, the defending state champions, wasted no time proving its superiority in Friday's Class 4 District 1 boys basketball championship game. It used pressure defense to force turnovers and scorched the nets in a 74-46 victory.

"They just outplayed us today," Notre Dame senior Nathan Meystedt said. "They just shot the ball so well, moved it, played great defense. They were just the better team today."

Sikeston scored the last seven points of the first quarter and never trailed again. Sikeston ran away by shooting 60 percent from the field in the contest.

"We just attacking and we were [working] high-low," Sikeston junior Vashawn Ruffin said. "We were moving the ball to the corner and attacked from there. And we knocked down shots."

Ruffin, who finished with a game-high 21 points, sank a pair of 3-pointers during an 8-0 run in the secnd quarter. Sikeston grabbed a 13-point lead before Notre Dame senior Jonathan Lynch nailed a pair of 3s, but Sikeston led by nine points entering halftime.

"We put ourselves into a position to dictate the tempo, I thought," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "And I thought our players did a really good job with intensity."

Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts agreed that the pace of the game favored Sikeston.

"The game tonight was going to be dictated by who could control the tempo," he said. "We did that in December [a 62-54 win]. We made them play our game. Tonight we played their game, and they're a lot better at that."

Sikeston (22-4) poured it on in the second half. It forced Notre Dame (20-7) into eight turnovers in the third quarter while pushing its lead to 21 points entering the final period.

"Key to burying them was push the ball every possession, get into the shooters' faces, get the rebounds, push it out every time," Ruffin said. "Make it a fast tempo game."

Sikeston shot 65 percent after halftime.

"They're looking to get the tempo up and pressure and get up in there, so we were trying to stay composed and patient and try to move the ball and limit our turnovers," Lynch said. "That's what they're looking to do. They feed off the energy from the turnovers."

Notre Dame's offense struggled to find success after the opening minutes of the game. It hit its first four shots of the contest and led 12-10 with 3 minutes, 1 second left in the first quarter. Meystedt scored five points in the first 41 seconds of the game, but Sikeston's defense started sucking to him after that.

"I try to give it right back so we can swing it around and get an open look for another guy," Meystedt said about the increased defensive pressure. "Just trying not to force anything. Just trying to create for other teammates if I can."

But the offense cooled considerably after the first quarter. Notre Dame only shot 34 percent in the game.

"They were just getting after us," Roberts said. "We held the ball. We didn't pick and choose our spots to penetrate well."

Sikeston opened the third quarter on a 15-5 run and never led by less than 18 points after that.

"We just attacked from the get-go," McGee said. "Every day in practice, we've just been going as hard as we can. We do that, we win. That's the bottom line. We came out from the very beginning and attacked them and never let up."

Sikeston advanced to face De Soto in Wednesday's 7:45 p.m. sectional at Mineral Area College.

Sikeston 17 16 22 19 -- 74

Notre Dame 12 12 10 12 -- 46

SIKESTON (74) -- Caleb McGee 19, Terry Jamison 2, Keldon Warfield 12, Kil'Ron Coleman 5, Vashawn Ruffin 21, Markeith Bratcher 6, Jetterance Jones 9. FG 31, FT 5-9, F 15. (3-pointers: Ruffin 3, Bratcher 2, Jones 1, McGee 1. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (46) -- Nathan Meystedt 17, Jordan Reddin 5, Cody Heisserer 4, Ryan Hale 6, Jonathan Lynch 7, Demonte Farmer 4, Quinn Poythress 3. FG 17, FT 7-11, F 12. (3-pointers: Lynch 2, Meystedt 2, Poythress 1)