Sikeston wins nailbiter for SEMO Conference crown

With the SEMO Conference regular season championship on the line, the Sikeston Bulldogs outlasted the Jackson Indians 71-68 on Friday at Jackson High School. Dontrez Williams led the Bulldogs with 32 points, followed by PJ Farmer with 14. The Indians were led by Kole Deck with 32, Blayne Harris with 21 and Judd Thoma with 11.

Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield said Williams played terrific and not only scored but was important for rebounds.

“He just played terrific. He also had 23 rebounds and he just puts us on his back and is such a great competitor,” Holifield said. “Abilene Christian University is getting a heck of a player and a wonderful person.”

Both starting centers, Trace Sadler for Sikeston and Gavin Holdman for Jackson got into early foul trouble, picking up two in the opening quarter. With both bigs on the bench, each team scored fairly easily in the paint, and the Bulldogs held a 21-20 lead at the end of the first.

Sikeston opened the second with a 7-0 run before Jackson got a transition bucket and used a timeout to slow down the Bulldogs. The Indians missed a multitude of inside shots and scored only nine on the quarter, finding themselves down 12 at the half, 41-29.

Holifield said his team did a great job of being able to push through against a good Jackson team on the road.

Sikeston's Dontrez Williams goes up for the alley-oop during the Feb. 16 game between the Bulldogs and Jackson.Photo Courtesy of Carrie Trovillion - Freelance Photographer

“First of all, give Jackson credit, they played great and with tremendous effort so credit to those guys,” Holifield said. “Our guys did a great job of battling back and keeping us in a position to win.”

Jackson came out of halftime on all cylinders, quickly erasing the 12-point deficit and tying the game a few times. Midway through the quarter Farmer went down after a layup and was helped off with a sprained ankle. This situation hurt the Bulldogs a bit on defense, allowing Jackson to get close and leaving Sikeston clinging to a four-point lead entering the fourth.

Ultimately, the Indians never got any closer than four before they were forced to start fouling to preserve clock. A backcourt violation gave Jackson a chance and Deck answered with a three, but Sikeston continued to make free throws and held on to win the nailbiter by three.

Indians head coach Kory Thoma was happy with the way his team played, particularly in the third.

“Notoriously, we've had really good third quarters this season after making halftime adjustments and we have another one tonight,” Thoma said. “I challenged my three kids in the back row to get up and get some rebounds to get out in transition, and then we were able to hit some of those shots. Huge credit to Sikeston, Holifield has those guys looking good, kudos to them and we wish them good luck the rest of the way.”

Sikeston and Jackson will both close out the season next week before starting their respective District Tournaments. Sikeston in Class 5 District 1 hosted by North County and Jackson in Class 6 District 1 hosted by Lindbergh.