Sikeston wins battle with Tribe

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Fred Garmon (right) shoots against Sikeston's Corey Porter (43) as Niquavious Dixon (5) awaits a potential rebound during Friday's basketball game at the Sikeston Field House. [Click to enlarge]

The Sikeston Bulldogs -- a southeast Missouri powerhouse -- defeated the Kennett Indians 84-59 Friday night in the much anticipated matchup between the two ranked teams.

Coming into the game Kennett was ranked sixth in Class 3 while Sikeston was fourth in Class 4.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Jay Shavers (right) drives against Sikeston's Janeil Hatchett during Friday's basketball game at the Sikeston Field House. [Click to enlarge]

Kennett came out strong in the first period by handling Sikeston's highly touted press and behind some big-time play from Jimmy Gooden and Fred Garmon.

"We didn't just turn it over against the press, other than allowing them the backtip, which we knew we were going to do -- but what we didn't do was attack it," said Kennett coach Jim Vaughan. "I'm disappointed in that. I don't know -- we just got unsure of ourselves right away. We didn't get the ball out right away in traffic after a made basket. That was taken away from us. But we didn't do anything to try to garner that part of our game back. I didn't like how we attacked (their press). It didn't hurt us necessarily, but we sure didn't take any advantage of it either."

Garmon hit some hard fought for shots by driving into the lane that was crowded by the Bulldogs' zone defense. Meanwhile, Gooden put the Indians on his shoulders by knocking down 13 of Kennett's 17 first-quarter points.

"My coach told me to play tough and keep playing tough -- no matter how big they are -- score down low and don't be afraid," said Gooden.

Dwight Usry and Randrick Caruthers found Gooden a couple of times down low for baskets, while Gooden also hit a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc, a pair of free throws and a couple of offensive rebounds put back in to give him 13 points with 1:23 left in the first.

"Jimmy was on a bit of a mission tonight," Vaughan said. "Hands down -- and I've seen the kid for four years -- hands down, the absolute toughest that...I've ever seen him compete. I'm so proud of the way he came out tonight. It's a good thing he did, because 19 was big for us -- 19 of our 33 in the first half. And they were all just tough, tough points -- rebounds, points in the paint, and effort stuff."

With the score 20-17 in favor of Sikeston with 1:28 left in the first the Bulldogs tacked on four more fastbreak points to end the period with a seven-point lead. (24-17)

The Tribe pulled to within five points of Sikeston with five minutes left in the half on a Jack Walls 3 while Gooden tacked on six more. However the Bulldogs outscored Kennett 21-16 in the second period with flurry of fastbreak baskets.

"Kennett's got a really good team," Sikeston coach Gregg Hollifield said. "They came in and played hard. He (Gooden) hurt us in the first half. We really had to make some adjustments at halftime and try to eliminate that. Fortunately we were able to do so.

"Coach Vaughan has done a marvelous job with this team."

Sikeston took a 12-point lead in the half at 45-33.

Eli Jackson of Sikeston opened the second half by hitting a field goal, while Kennett's Cameron Wallace answered back by nailing a 3 from the left side. But Sikeston took over the rebounding game and pushed the tempo by adding eight points to their lead to end the third. (61-41)

"That was the key this week," Vaughan said. "They outlength us, they outstrengthen us and they're as fast as we are. We knew rebounding was going to be -- they've got a lot more girth than we do and they've got equal or more athleticism -- so we knew that was just a huge, huge factor tonight."

Sikeston, which averages 35 rebounds a game, had 41 on the night with 11 each coming from JuQualin Wiggins and Jackson. Corey Porter was the team's third leader in rebounding with six.

"It was definitely more physical down there with Corey and Eli down there," Gooden said.

Sikeston sealed the deal in the fourth by coming out hot from behind the arc with junior guard Will Holifield knocking down two of the Bulldogs three buckets from 3-point range in the period's opening minutes.

Holifield led Sikeston with four 3-pointers even though he had a tough time getting open looks against Kennett.

"They're definitely one of the fastest teams we've played," said Will Holifield "They're real physical and aren't afraid to go 12 deep."

Kennett had two players get into double digits to lead their scoring. Randrick Caruthers had 11 points while Jimmy Gooden capped off his big night with 23.

Jackson led Sikeston in scoring with 17 points, while Darryl Howard and Will Holifield each had 13, and Wiggins and Terry Jamison each had 12..

Even though the Tribe took the loss, it was a good game to get the team geared up for district play and the Kennett faithful made the hour long trip support their team. The Sikeston Field House was packed for such a big game with both school's student section going back-and-forth with rants.

"That's what makes high school basketball fun -- these kids getting to play in front of this kind of crowd," said Vaughan. "Students from each school enjoying the game that way (with) a little good taunting back and forth, so good, clean fun. I thought both crowds were great."

Holcomb 64, Risco 62

At Holcomb, the host Hornets put four players in double figures to score the upset of the Tigers in a key Tri-County Conference contest.

Zach Williams led Holcomb with 16 points, while Tyler Crawford added 13 and the duo of Jamie Massey and Trent Patterson each finished with 11.