Sikeston pulls off shocking upset of top-ranked Cape Central to capture district title

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – After Cape Central rolled through the regular season in dominating fashion, there weren’t many that gave the Sikeston Bulldogs much of a chance in the district tournament.

This is a Cape Central team that demolished Sikeston just a few weeks ago and was virtually unchallenged through most of the season other than a loss to nationally ranked Chicago Simeon and a home loss to Class 6 power CBC.

The Tigers came into the game ranked number one in Class 5 and were largely the favorite to make a run at a state title.

Sikeston stands for a photo after beating Cape Central for the MSHSAA Class 5, District 1 Championship on Monday, March 5. (Submitted)

Sikeston, however, had other ideas and pulled off the most stunning upset of the season as they defeated the Tigers 50-48 in the Class 5, District 1 championship game on Monday night at North County High School.

Sikeston (22-7) advances to the Class 5 quarterfinals where they will play Cardinal Ritter on Friday at 6:15 at Jefferson College in Hillsboro.

Cape Central’s impressive season ends at 26-3.

“It’s just a great win for our team and our program,” Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. “I’m so proud of the guys for their preparation and their hard work throughout the entire season. Cape Central is such a great team and we knew it was going to be very difficult, but we’re proud of our execution. Our guys stuck together and worked really hard.”

Sikeston did it with a radical game-plan by Holifield – holding the ball near halfcourt and forcing the Tigers to extend their defense, while, defensively for Sikeston, the team backed up into their zone, packing it in and forcing the Tigers to beat them from the perimeter.

It proved to be a stroke of genius.

The Tigers did shoot it well enough, hitting seven 3-pointers in the game, but found little room to maneuver inside.

“I thought Sikeston had a great gameplan -- they executed it really well,” Cape Central coach Drew Church said. “I think in the second half when we did build a lead, we kind got away from what was working for us. We got a little hesitant and we got in a little foul trouble. But I give all the credit to Sikeston. They played really well and really made it tough on us defensively.”

The game came down to an exciting fourth quarter.

The Tigers had built a 39-23 lead in the third, but Sikeston finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to narrow the gap to 39-33.

Sikeston junior Dontrez Williams opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and then followed that up with a drive to the basket, plus the foul. He missed the free throw, but the Tiger lead was now 39-38.

Cape Central 6-foot-8 standout Cameron Williams scored inside on the ensuing possession, but Sikeston sophomore Lekereon McCray tied the game on a 3-pointer for the first time at 41-apiece with 5:30 to go.

After a steal, Williams gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the night on a free throw at 42-41 with 5:11 left.

Williams was sensational, leading all scorers with 23 points with eight rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots.

“Dontrez was just outstanding tonight as he is every night,” Holifield said. “He puts us on his back and carries us. He’s such a great player for us.”

After a Cape Central turnover, Sikeston freshman Kobe Thomas drove around Williams and hit a short bank shot in the paint to extend the Bulldog lead to 44-41.

Cameron Williams hit a free throw to narrow Sikeston’s lead to 44-42, and then, following a defensive stop for the Tigers, Williams tied the game at 44-44 on an inside basket.

After milking more clock, Sikeston sophomore Tristan Wiggins found a lane to attack and was fouled, hitting both free throws with 1:31 left to give the Bulldogs a 46-44 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Cape Central’s Williams drew a foul and sank both free throws to knot the score once again at 46-apiece with 1:04 left.

Sikeston then took possession and, as they had done throughout the game, spread the floor and patiently looked for an angle to attack.

Wiggins found one and drove to the basket and drew a foul. He hit 1 of 2 from the line to give his team a 47-46 lead with 48 seconds left.

Sikeston’s defense took over from there, forcing a tough shot from Williams. McCray rebounded and was fouled and came through with two clutch free throws to give the Bulldogs a 49-46 lead with 28 seconds left.

Sikeston's Chris Artis heavily contested a Jaydon Reynolds 3-pointer that was off the mark as McCray rebounded and was fouled again with nine seconds left.

He hit 1 of 2 to give Sikeston a 50-46 lead.

A Cameron Williams coast-to-coast drive to the basket cut the lead to 50-48 followed by a timeout by the Tigers with 2.2 seconds left.

Sikeston was able to inbound the ball to Williams and run out the remainder of the clock to secure the stunning victory and leading to a wild celebration by the Bulldog players.

“It feels good to win this game,” Dontrez Williams said. “We worked hard every day in practice. We worked for this. We earned it.”

Holifield was complimentary of Wiggins and McCray who hit the biggest free throws of the night late in the game.

“We did a great job of taking the lead and those guys did a great job of hitting some clutch free throws,” Holifield said. “There was a lot of pressure on both of those guys, both sophomores, and they stepped up and hit some big ones.”

Early on, it appeared that the Tigers would be too much for the Bulldogs as they stormed out to an 8-0 lead, although it came with a price as Cameron Williams picked up two early fouls and sat the remainder of the half.

Using a four-corners spread offense, Sikeston tried to bring the Tigers’ bigger players away from the basket to create openings, but the Bulldogs had trouble getting into a rhythm.

A pair of Dontrez Williams 3-pointers finally got Sikeston going, cutting the lead to 13-6, before Cape Central was able to score with seconds left in the opening period to lead 15-6.

Back-to-back baskets by Sikeston’s Williams and an offensive putback by Wiggins to open the second quarter cut the Cape Central lead to 15-12.

Williams then blocked a shot by Reynolds, grabbed the loose ball rebound and scored on the other end to cut the lead to 15-14.

The Tigers were able to get a pair of 3-pointers by freshman sensation Marquel Murray and Reynolds to help build the lead to 25-16

But, after the Bulldogs held the ball near halfcourt for over two minutes, Sikeston’s Creighton Sarakas hit an NBA range 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to trim the score to 25-19.

“That was a huge shot because we were reeling a little bit and they had built a lead. It was just a huge shot going into the half,” Holifield said.

The Tigers took control early in the third, leading by as much as 16 points midway through the quarter.

However, Sikeston swiped the momentum of the game from that point and was able to pull out the stunning upset with its huge fourth quarter, out-scoring the Tigers 17-9.

“I’ve been going against Gregg a long time,” Church said. “We were expecting anything. They did a good job of taking away things that we do well. They covered ground well and they talked and they made it hard. Offensively they were really patient, they spread the floor and they made shots when they needed to.”

The Tigers were led by Reynolds with 17 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the game. Cameron Williams scored all 12 of his points in the second half, including all nine of his team’s points in the fourth quarter.

McCray finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

The district tournament was a gauntlet for Sikeston, who is ranked eighth in the state in Class 5. The Bulldogs had to knock off two state ranked teams – No. 9 Hillsboro on Friday and then No. 1 Cape Central three days later.

The victory adds to the long list of accolades that Holifield has achieved in his Hall of Fame career at Sikeston, winning his 13th district title in his 25 years as the Bulldog head coach.

Monday’s victory secured Sikeston’s 27th district title in school history.

Sikeston 6 13 14 17 -- 50

Cape Central 15 10 14 9 -- 48

SIKESTON (50) – Dontrez Williams 23, Lekereon McCray 12, Tristan Wiggins 8, Creighton Sarakas 3, Chris Artis 2, Kobe Thomas 2. FG 18, FT 8-17, F 11. (3-pointers: Williams 4, McCray 1, Sarakas 1. Fouled out: none).

CAPE CENTRAL (48) – Jaydon Reynolds 17, Cameron Williams 12, LaTroy McIntosh 7, Marquel Murray 6, Ty’Seandre Edwards 6. FG 18, FT 5-8, F 15. (3-pointers: Reynolds 5, Murray 2. Fouled out: none).