Sikeston steamrolls Portageville, 72-30

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. – The Sikeston Bulldogs basketball team has shown the capability to demoralize its opponents at times this season.

That was never more apparent than on Monday night in Portageville as Sikeston took the Bulldogs out of everything they wanted to do offensively en route to a 72-30 victory.

It’s Sikeston’s third straight mercy clock victory and their ninth win in the last 11 games.

Sikeston (11-4) led 46-10 at the half as head coach Gregg Holifield used the game as an opportunity to play every player on the roster.

“Our guys have really put in a lot of time the last two weeks defensively -- our positioning is getting better, our rebounding is improving and our pressure on the ball has improved,” Holifield said.

A key component of that improvement was a scheduling oddity in which Sikeston had a stretch of 11 days between games following its loss to Charleston on Jan. 6. While Holifield said he would rather play games that week, he mentioned that he used the time off to his advantage.

“It really helped us because we’re such a young team and we had some valuable practice time,” Holifield said. “I felt our players really worked hard and improved during that week.”

In Monday’s game at Portageville (9-9), Sikeston raced out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back. The Bulldogs’ full-court pressure defense wreaked havoc on Portageville’s ball handlers.

Sikeston forced eight turnovers in the first quarter to help extend its lead. Portageville managed to trim Sikeston’s lead to 16-8, but the road Bulldogs finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 26-8.

Sikeston went on to outscore Portageville 20-2 in the second quarter to build its lead to 46-10. Sikeston forced the Bulldogs into 14 turnovers in the first half -- Portageville had 19 turnovers overall.

“I thought our positioning defensively was good. It all carries over from our practices,” Holifield said. “We’re a young team so you’re going to see improvement when the effort and attitudes are good, which they have been.”

Four minutes into the third quarter, Sikeston’s lead swelled to 59-17 as Holifield pulled his starters the rest of the way.

Sikeston led 64-22 heading into the fourth quarter where the junior varsity played out the remaining minutes for the Bulldogs.

Junior Dontrez Williams led the Bulldogs with 14 points, four rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Lekereon McCray also tallied 14 points.

Sophomore Chris Artis scored 11 points with six rebounds while freshman Kobe Thomas added 10 points.

Portageville was led by Shane Townsend with eight points.

Sikeston will next play in the Union Tournament Tuesday night at 5 p.m. against the St. Louis Blue Knights. Sikeston received the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

__SIKESTON 72, PORTAGEVILLE 30__

Sikeston 26 20 18 8 -- 72

Portageville 8 2 12 8 -- 30

__SIKESTON (72) –__ Dontrez Williams 14, Lekereon McCray 14, Chris Artis 11, Kobe Thomas 10, Tristan Wiggins 6, J’kwon Applewhite 6, Harrison Arndt 3, Creighton Sarakas 3, Quemariae Gray 2, Malachi Davis 2, Ben James 1. FG 30, FT 3-8, F 12. (3-pointers: McCray 3, Williams 2, Thomas 2, Arndt 1, Sarakas 1. Fouled out: none).

__PORTAGEVILLE (30) –__ Shane Townsend 8, Conner Sells 7, Mason Adams 5, Brandon West 3, Thomas Frakes 3, A.J. Henry 2, Conner Jeffries 2. FG 12, FT 2-5, F 9. (3-pointers: Townsend 1, Adams 1, Frakes 1, West 1. Fouled out: none).

Junior Varsity

The Sikeston J.V. team improved to 10-0 on the season with a 56-28 victory over Portageville’s junior varsity.

Freshman Will Lape led the way with 12 points, all coming on four 3-pointers. Freshman Ben James added nine points with four assists, four steals and four rebounds in a half of action.

Sophomore Marcus Sanders scored nine points with six rebounds. Junior J’kwon Applewhite and freshman Jaharus Goodwin each had seven rebounds to lead the team.

__SIKESTON 56, PORTAGEVILLE 28__

Sikeston 21 14 9 12 -- 56

Portageville 2 5 12 9 -- 28

__SIKESTON (56) –__ Will Lape 12, Marcus Sanders 9, Ben James 9, J’kwon Applewhite 6, Jaharus Goodwin 6, Ladainian Sherrod 4, Dontavious Wright 3, Kobe Thomas 2, Isaiah Jimerson-Patterson 2, Malachi Davis 2, Keane Atkins 1. FG 23, FT 4-10, F 12. (3-pointers: Lape 4, James 1, Wright 1. Fouled out: none).

__PORTAGEVILLE (28) –__ J. Bogan 12, X. Bogan 9, T. Hamilton 2, H. Bickenbottom 2, D. Roberts 2, R. Partin 1. FG 10, FT 5-12, F 11. (3-pointers: J. Bogan 2, X. Bogan 1. Fouled out: none).