C5D1: Sikeston smothers Cape Central to reach district final

FARMINGTON, Mo. – Despite two lopsided victories over Cape Central in the regular season, Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield refused to look past the Tigers in Friday night’s Class 5, District 1 semifinal at Farmington High School.

Throughout the past two weeks Holifield essentially branded Cape Central into his players’ minds.

Based on Friday night’s performance, his team got the hint as the second-seeded Bulldogs completely dominated the third-seeded Tigers from the opening tip, rolling to an 84-37 victory.

The win puts Sikeston (25-3) into the district championship game where they will take on top-seeded Farmington on Monday at 6 p.m.

Farmington defeated fourth-seeded Hillsboro 62-49 in its semifinal game.

The Knights (26-2) defeated the Bulldogs 81-74 at Farmington High School on Jan. 14. If the Bulldogs are to capture their third straight district title, they will need to defeat the Knights on their home floor on Monday.

“We knew we would have to beat Cape Central before even thinking about Farmington, but now we are here and we know it will be a very difficult game for us,” Holifield said. “They check all the boxes. They have good size, they have good shooters, they play good defense and they are well-coached. We will have to have the same kind of effort that we had tonight to beat them.”

Friday night’s effort was off the charts, even by Sikeston’s standard.

The Bulldogs stifled the Tigers (18-8) with its trademark aggressive, ball-pressure defense that led to turnovers while visibly frustrating Cape Central.

“I thought our pressure was outstanding tonight,” Holifield said. “Our guys had great intensity and focus all week and you saw the results.”

From the opening tip it was all Bulldogs.

Sikeston jumped out to a 15-4 lead on a P.J. Farmer drive with 3:45 left in the first quarter.

The lead kept growing from there as senior Lekereon McCray went coast-to-coast with some slick dribbling through traffic and finishing with a scoop layup to lead 20-6.

McCray tacked on two more drives to give the Bulldogs a 24-10 first quarter lead.

Holifield prepared his team in anticipation that the Tigers may try to hold the ball and shorten the game in an effort to slow down Sikeston’s tempo.

However, Sikeston’s opening quarter quelled that notion early.

“They really wanted to slow the game down last time we played them and we prefer to speed them up, so that’s how we prepared,” Holifield said. “I think getting the early lead was a crucial component of tonight’s game.”

Things spiraled out of the control for the Tigers in the second quarter as Sikeston out-scored them 25-5 to blow the game open by halftime.

The Bulldogs’ guards were able to speed up the tempo while funneling the Tigers into the daunting presence of 7-footer Trace Sadler, who patrolled the paint and negated Cape Central’s inside scoring.

“Trace was a major factor tonight – he just controlled the game inside defensively and he rebounded well,” Holifield said.

Sadler grabbed seven boards with two blocks but altered numerous others and forcing the Tigers into wild attempts at the rim.

Sikeston took a 49-15 lead into halftime after Malachi Davis hit two free throws with four seconds left in the period.

The third quarter started the way the first half ended as Sikeston rattled off 11 straight points to extend the lead to 60-15 on a conventional 3-point play by McCray, signaling the end of the starting unit’s night with 5:40 left.

It was simply a master-class performance by the Bulldogs.

Our guys prepared well and they came out totally locked in and focused on Cape Central,” Holifield said. “It would be real easy to look ahead to that championship game, but they came in and knew we had to take care of business tonight.”

Sikeston led 70-30 at the end of the third.

The mercy clock put a quick end to the game in the fourth.

Farmer led the team with a season-high 29 points with four rebounds and four assists. He shot 11 of 14 from the field, hitting 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

McCray scored 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting, while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Matayo Rivers led the Tigers with 13 points.

Sikeston’s torrid shooting continued as they hit on 55 percent of their shots while hitting 10-22 (45 percent) from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs forced 15 turnovers, but nine of those came in the decisive first half.

Sikeston has now defeated the Tigers seven straight times, including three straight eliminations in the district tournament.

Holifield’s Sikeston teams have knocked Cape Central out of district play 10 times during his tenure.

The victory also gave Sikeston an undefeated mark against SEMO Conference opponents for the second straight year, running the team’s streak to 27 straight wins which includes the Bulldogs’ final two victories against Poplar Bluff and Cape Central in 2023.

“That’s something we strive for and are quite proud of,” Holifield said. “We want to be successful against our conference foes. We have one of the top conferences in the state year in and year out and to have this kind of streak says a lot for our program.”

Now the Bulldogs will try take down a Knights team that has had arguably their greatest regular season in school history, owing their only two losses to Class 6 schools Cardinal Ritter and Jackson.

“They beat us the last time and our guys know that and respect their program,” Holifield said. “We know that we will have to play better than we did the last time in order to have a chance on Monday, but I have confidence in our guys and I know we will practice well and prepare well.”

Cape Central 10 5 15 7 -- 37

Sikeston 24 25 21 14 -- 84

CAPE CENTRAL (37) – Matayo Rivers 13, Goliath Morris-Young 8, Jaidyn Johnson 5, Antonio Sims 4, Jefferson Walling 3, Hayden Harris 2, Landrick McFerren 2. FG 15, FT 4-8, F 11. (3-pointers: Rivers 1, Johnson 1, Walling 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (84) – P.J. Farmer 29, Lekereon McCray 24, Chris Artis 7, Marcus Sanders 7, Tristan Wiggins 5, Pierce Baker 3, Kobe Thomas 3, Christian Gibson 2, Drake Williams 2, Malachi Davis 2. FG 32, FT 10-10, F 9. (3-pointers: Farmer 4, Wiggins 1, Artis 1, McCray 1, Baker 1, Sanders 1. Fouled out: none).