Sikeston storms into Fountain City championship game, 91-44

DE SOTO, Mo. – For the second straight year the Sikeston Bulldogs have reached the championship game of the Fountain City Classic in De Soto and for the second straight year their opponent will be district rival Cape Central.

Top-seeded Sikeston (2-0) throttled fifth-seeded Fort Zumwalt West 91-44 on Friday night to reach the championship game where they will take on second-seeded Cape Central at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at De Soto High School.

The Bulldogs were clicking in most phases of the game against the Jaguars on Friday and the contest was put out of reach by halftime.

“I thought we came out with good intensity,” Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. “Defensively I thought we had good pressure on the basketball and we were able to create some turnovers that helped us get some easy baskets on the other end.”

Sikeston opened up a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, most coming on fast-break dunks and layups.

Bulldog senior Dontrez Williams took control early, scoring nine of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter. He also finished the game with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in about 2 ½ quarters of action.

“I thought Dontrez played really hard,” Holifield said. “He was physical and tough and did a good job.”

Fort Zumwalt West finally broke into the scoring column at the 3:20 mark on a shot by Logan O’Laughlin but it only stopped the Sikeston’s momentum briefly as the Bulldogs exploded for a 28-8 lead by the end of the first period.

The Bulldogs’ domination continued in the second quarter as they outscored the Jaguars 25-6 to take a 53-14 lead into halftime.

Williams scored nine more points in the second quarter as the Bulldogs were forcing turnovers and controlling the glass.

“It’s just aggression and doing what we have to do. We had great intensity,” Holifield said.

By the mid-point of the third quarter Holifield had emptied his bench allowing the reserves to receive valuable varsity experience.

Sikeston led 79-28 after three quarters as the mercy clock ran the entire fourth quarter.

It was a balanced scoring attack for the Bulldogs as P.J. Farmer tallied 12 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. Tristan Wiggins, Trace Sadler and J’kwon Applewhite each followed up with 10 points. Lekereon McCray grabbed eight rebounds with four assists and Chris Artis snatched six boards.

“I thought our guys did a really good job of sharing the ball and looking for each other, and also they were doing a good job of moving without the basketball and making cuts – and we were able to find the open man,” Holifield said.

Cape Central defeated Sikeston in last year’s Fountain City championship game, 84-71. Holifield is expecting another difficult matchup with their rival on Saturday.

“It’s a good early test. I think they have a really good team and we know it will be a tough game. We just have to come in and play hard,” Holifield said.

Fort Zumwalt West 8 6 14 16 -- 44

Sikeston 28 25 26 12 -- 91

FORT ZUMWALT WEST (44) – Mark Hampton 9, Clay Bowman 8, Payden Cheng 7, Logan O’Laughlin 6, Parker Sherman 4, Zach Urban 3, Noah Schaeperkoetter 3, Adam Smith 2, Tyler Hinkle 2. FG 17, FT 5-9, F 13. (3-pointers: Sherman 1, Urban 1, Cheng 1, Schaeperkoetter 1, Hampton 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (91) – Dontrez Williams 20, P.J. Farmer 12, Tristan Wiggins 10, Trace Sadler 10, J’kwon Applewhite 10, Chris Artis 7, Kobe Thomas 5, Jaharus Goodwin 4, Malachi Davis 4, Lekereon McCray 3, Ben James 2, Isaiah Jimmerson-Patterson 2, Drake Williams 2. FG 41, FT 6-15, F 13. (3-pointers: Wiggins 1, Williams 1, Thomas 1. Fouled out: none).