Sikeston takes out Lutheran South in first round of Union tourney, 83-54

UNION, Mo. – After a two-week layoff with weather cancellations and postponements, the Sikeston Bulldogs basketball team finally took the court on Wednesday evening in the 62nd Annual Union Invitational Tournament.

The top-seeded Bulldogs did not seem to have any rust as they rolled past eighth-seeded Lutheran South 83-54 to advance to the semifinals. Sikeston (15-0) will take on fourth-seeded Union on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield was pleased with his team’s performance despite not having played a game since Jan. 11.

Sikeston's Tristan Wiggins (0) scores during a win over Portageville earlier this season at the Field House.Dennis Marshall ~ Standard-Democrat

“I thought we came out defensively with good intensity,” Holifield said. “We put good pressure on the ball and offensively I thought we did a great job of pushing the ball in transition and sharing the ball.”

Wednesday’s game was originally scheduled for Monday but was pushed back due to inclement weather.

The Bulldogs struck quickly from the opening tip as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never trailed.

Sikeston's Lekereon McCray (23) passes during a win over Portageville earlier this season at the Field House.Dennis Marshall ~ Standard-Democrat

The Crusaders managed to trim the lead to 11-6, but Sikeston responded with a Dontrez Williams 3-pointer and a P.J. Farmer two-handed slam to extend the lead back to double digits.

Lutheran South continued to claw back into the game, trailing 20-14, but Sikeston’s J’kwon Applewhite and Lekereon McCray each scored baskets to give the Bulldogs a 24-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Sikeston, which is the No. 1 ranked team in Class 5, blew the game open in the second quarter with a 31-10 explosion.

The Bulldogs started the second quarter with a 10-0 run. Very quickly the rout was on as Sikeston sprinted ahead to a 55-24 halftime lead, marking the ninth game that Sikeston has topped 50 points by the half this season.

“We push the basketball in transition which allows us to play our pace,” Holifield said. “Our guys are very unselfish. We were attacking the basket and we didn’t settle for 3’s tonight.”

Sikeston continued the onslaught in the third quarter, opening up a 71-37 lead on two Chris Artis free throws with three minutes left in the period. Holifield then put his reserves in for the rest of the night, giving his youngsters some valuable varsity experience.

Sikeston led 75-42 heading into the fourth quarter. The mercy clock ran for most of the final period to close out the game.

Williams led all scorers with 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting. He also had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

McCray followed up with a season-high 19 points on a perfect 9 of 9 shooting. He had four assists and five steals.

“Lekereon has had some really good practices the last couple of weeks and he’s improving daily,” Holifield said.

Farmer had 11 points with nine assists while Wiggins had nine points, four assists and four steals.

Sikeston forced 26 turnovers in the game, including a whopping 19 in the first half – most of those were turned into fast-break layups and dunks for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs played the game without 7-foot junior Trace Sadler who is nursing a sprained ankle. He is considered day-to-day.

__SIKESTON 83, LUTHERAN SOUTH 54__

Lutheran South 14 10 18 12 -- 54

Sikeston 24 31 20 8 -- 83

LUTHERAN SOUTH (54) –Travis Luhning 13, Asher Hoehner 7, Ben Rausch 7, Jacob Cody 7, Deyton Lucas 5, Jeremy Lind 5, Ben Long 4, Greyson Barnett 3, Will Buck 2, Ryan Hugo 1. FG 21, FT 8-10, F 15. (3-pointers: Hoehner 1, Rausch 1, Lind 1, Lucas 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (83) – Dontrez Williams 20, Lekereon McCray 19, P.J. Farmer 11, Tristan Wiggins 9, Chris Artis 6, Kobe Thomas 6, J’kwon Applewhite 4, Jaharus Goodwin 4, Isaiah Jimerson-Patterson 4. FG 37, FT 7-10, F 16. (3-pointers: Wiggins 1, Williams 1. Fouled out: none).