Sikeston overpowers Notre Dame boys 59-39

SIKESTON -- In the past few years, one aspect that made the Sikeston Bulldogs a difficult team to beat was that you never knew who was going to beat you.

Friday night it was Reese Porter's time to shine in the Bulldogs' 59-39 victory over SEMO Conference and district foe Notre Dame.

The 6-foot-3 junior scored a career-high 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals.

His previous high was 10 points on two occasions this season, but the Bulldogs needed every bit of his scoring against a young, energetic and upset-minded Notre Dame squad.

"I don't really try to be the scorer," Porter said. "I just want to be the overall guy. The rebounder and defender and things like that. I just wanted to help my team, and I did what I had to do."

Porter was able to establish low position as Notre Dame's defense focused on pressuring the ball on the perimeter and surrounding J.T. Jones, the Bulldogs' leading scorer.

Jones and point guard Vashawn Ruffin were able to dump passes into Porter, who converted 10 of 11 shots and made 3 of 4 free throws.

Sikeston (8-0) trailed just once in the game in the early going, but the Bulldogs took control when Ruffin broke a tie game with a 3-pointer and Porter hit a free throw for a 10-6 lead after one quarter.

Sikeston began to pull away in the second quarter behind Jones' 10 points, leading by as many as 13 before settling for a 28-17 halftime lead.

Sikeston outrebounded Notre Dame 18-4 in the first half, but coach Gregg Holifield was still leery after witnessing Notre Dame rally from even larger deficits to defeat Jackson and New Madrid County Central.

"Typical Sikeston-Notre Dame game -- it's just a battle to the end," Holifield said. "They never go away. They have great shooters on the floor. We know how difficult they are to go against. Fortunately we were able to build a lead."

The Bulldogs made sure Notre Dame (2-4) wouldn't pull off another comeback as they outscored them 17-10 in the third quarter to lead 45-27 heading into the fourth.

In the third, Notre Dame got as close as 10 points following a Quinn Poythress 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 30 seconds remaining, but Sikeston responded with a baseline jumper by Zach Jackson and consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays by Jairius Ray to open up a 41-24 lead with 2:14 left in the period.

Kyland Gross closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup following a steal and a pass ahead from Jones.

It was one of 23 turnovers by Notre Dame.

"It's a learning experience," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "We're not bad at all. We're going to get better and better. If we can get to that point where we can execute every possession, defensively and offensively, we'll be alright."

Sikeston held its biggest lead at 23 points in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame got no closer than 17.

"When you focus so much on other guys, it's those role players that step up and hurt you," Roberts said. "They're a good team. They're well-coached. They've got a lot of weapons out there. The big guys beat us tonight. We wanted to focus on stopping the guards and penetration, but they got by us and once they get to that second level of defense, we're in trouble."

Notre Dame only had five two-point field goals, but they buried 7 of 18 (39 percent) from 3-point range.

"I thought Sikeston really did a good job defensively taking us out of what we wanted to do, but you could see at times when we executed what we wanted to do, we got layups and wide open 3s," Roberts said. "We just threw it away three times under our own basket that led to points. It's just little mistakes like that. If we just clean that up, we're right there. But they force you into that."

Notre Dame was led by Jordan Barber's nine points.

"I think coach Roberts does an outstanding job of preparing them, especially defensively," Holifield said. "Those guys always play us tough."

Notre Dame will travel to Charleston on Tuesday and will return home to play Kennett on Friday.

"We lost by 20, but am I walking away with my head down? No," Roberts said. "There's some good things that came out of this. We've got a young bunch and this is the sixth game of the year for us. These are still sophomores out there and a couple juniors. We're going to take a lot of confidence out of this."

Notre Dame 6 11 10 12 -- 39

Sikeston 10 18 17 14 -- 59

NOTRE DAME (39) -- Jordan Barber 9, Grant Ressel 8, Quinn Poythress 8, Cody Debrock 6, Jordan Williamson 6, Trent Schumer 2. FG 5, FT 8-13, F 15. (3-pointers: Poythress 2, Williamson 2, Ressel 2, Debrock 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (59) -- Reese Porter 23, J.T. Jones 10, Vashawn Ruffin 8, Zach Jackson 8, Jairius Ray 6, Kyland Gross 2, Jeterrence Harris 2. FG 24, FT 5-12, F 14. (3-pointers: Ruffin 2. Fouled out: none).

JV -- Notre Dame won 67-49.