Wiggins scores 1,000th point, leads Sikeston to impressive win over Father Tolton

SIKESTON, Mo. – Last year, Sikeston went undefeated through the regular season until its regular-season finale, which ended in a double-overtime defeat in Columbia to Father Tolton Catholic.

On Thursday night, the Class 4, No. 7 ranked Trailblazers once again stood in the way of the Class 5, No. 1 Bulldogs in their final regular season game at Field House.

Sikeston (23-3, 7-0 SEMO) overcame an early deficit and used a big second half to pull away for an impressive 70-58 victory in a battle of state-ranked teams.

It was a statement win for the Bulldogs according to senior Tristan Wiggins, who led the Bulldogs with a season-high 26 points. He also eclipsed 1,000 points in his varsity career in the contest.

“This was much-needed – we wanted to send a message to the state tonight that they can’t sleep on us at all,” said Wiggins, a Missouri Baptist commit. “We’re a very dangerous team and we just have fun and play together. We just have to keep doing that going into the postseason.”

Wiggins, along with senior teammate P.J. Farmer (24 points, five assists, four steals), pretty much carried the offense.

However, coach Gregg Holifield noted the toughness of seniors Lekereon McCray, Chris Artis and Trace Sadler and juniors Jaharus Goodwin and Kobe Thomas as major factors in the victory.

“I can’t say enough about those guys,” Holifield said. “Tristan and P.J. were both just fantastic, but those other guys left everything out there for us. Lekereon and Trace both had very tough, hard-nosed rebounds and were major factors on the defensive end. Chris, Kobe and Jaharus all provided great minutes and refused to lose tonight.”

The Bulldogs needed it against the sensational backcourt of Father Tolton – senior Aaron Rowe, a University of Missouri commit, and senior Zay Wilson, who put on a show in front of Kansas State coach Jerome Tang who was in attendance at the Field House.

Wilson has over a dozen offers including West Virginia, SIU-Carbondale, Saint Louis, Murray State, Austin Peay and SEMO.

The 6-foot-1 senior scored a game-high 32 points – this after he scored 38 against in last season’s double-overtime contest.

Rowe was limited to eight points on Thursday.

“I’ve been playing against them all my life – they’re good. They’re dogs,” Wiggins said of Rowe and Wilson. “They’re going to do big things wherever they go. If they just keep working they’re really going to be special. But tonight I feel like we handled them well. We prepped hard. We stayed locked in during walk-throughs which is really good and that helped us leading into this game tonight.”

Wilson got off to a strong start, scoring 11 points in the first quarter to lead the Trailblazers to a 19-17 lead.

Sikeston responded by taking control in the second quarter, outscoring Father Tolton 14-11 to take a one-point lead into halftime.

During the quarter, Wiggins hit a 3-pointer that put him over the 1,000-point mark in his career, drawing a loud roar from the crowd and an emphatic celebration from Wiggins himself, who has overcome breaking his leg twice in junior high.

“It’s something I always wanted to do,” Wiggins said of reaching the milestone. “Talking with my grandparents, they always wanted to see me strive, especially with the things I’ve been through. It was a blessing to be able to hit that tonight.”

Wiggins and Farmer combined to score 16 in the third quarter to extend the lead.

The only other points in the quarter came on 7-footer Trace Sadler’s alley-oop jam on a pass from Wiggins to ignite the large crowd, extending the lead to 35-31 with 6:41 left in the third.

It triggered a run by the Bulldogs as Wiggins hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing trip. Moments later Farmer drained a triple to lead 41-33.

After a driving layup by Wilson, Wiggins missed a 3-pointer that was rebounded by Wilson – but Wiggins was able to rip the ball away and score the layin while drawing the foul on Wilson.

Wiggins hit the free throw to extend the lead to 44-35.

The play was a microcosm of Wiggins’ performance on Thursday.

“That play was just a sign of Tristan’s sheer will to win,” Holifield said. “He was great defensively. He was great on the boards and he had a toughness to him that couldn’t be matched tonight.”

The spectacular play of Wilson (12 points in the third) kept the Trailblazers within striking distance as they cut the lead to 49-46 by the end of the quarter.

Farmer got the fourth quarter started well, extending the lead to 53-46 after hitting two free throws and a difficult floater.

A Wilson basket stopped the run, but a Wiggins 3-pointer followed by a transition layup by McCray gave the Bulldogs a 10-point lead with four minutes left in the game.

Cortland Miller scored for the Trailblazers and a Rowe fast-break jam cut the lead to 58-52 with 3:24 left, but they would not get any closer the rest of the way.

At that point Sikeston was able to close out the game with outstanding free throw shooting – hitting 10 of 12 from the line in the fourth quarter, and 15-of-17 (88 percent) in the game.

“Sikeston is a really good team and really well-coached,” said Father Tolton coach Jeremy Osborne. “We knew it would be a dogfight coming into it. We prepared well, but they made some shots and we didn’t shoot it well. Anytime you play a team like that you better be on your A-plus game.”

Another alley-oop jam from Sadler put a punctuation mark on the victory with 46 seconds left.

Sadler finished with eight points and his length was a deterrent in the paint.

The Trailblazers seemed baffled by the Bulldogs’ matchup defense as they shot just 5-of-19 (26 percent) from 3-point range while turning the ball over 21 times.

Six-foot-7 senior Blake Pingeton, a McKendree College commit, was held to five points.

Sikeston shot 7-of-23 (30 percent) from 3-point range and only committed six turnovers.

Father Tolton (13-13) has played a brutal schedule against many of Missouri’s best teams and some top out-of-state competition, skewing the record, but the team still received the top seed in their district.

Osborne, the longtime coach who led the Trailblazers to the Class 3 State Championship in 2016 with standout Michael Porter Jr.,  is no stranger to Sikeston.

He brought Father Tolton to Sikeston in 2017 for a 78-38 loss. The two teams met the following year at Father Tolton, a game the Fred Thatch-led Bulldogs won 79-55.

After last year’s thrilling victory over Sikeston, Osborne was looking forward to the return trip to Sikeston.

“The drive is worth it – this is a special, special place,” Osborne said. “This is always a special place to play. This is not a normal high school venue and it’s just a great atmosphere. So anytime our kids get to experience this it’s always a blessing.”

Sikeston received the No. 2 seed in its district next week at Farmington. The Bulldogs will play No. 7 seed North County (8-1) on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Sikeston finished its junior varsity season 13-1 with a 50-42 victory over Father Tolton.

Will Lape scored 13 followed by Jay Ray’s 11.

Sikeston’s only loss came in November in the Notre Dame J.V. Tournament against Barlett (Tenn.), 55-52.

SIKESTON 70, FATHER TOLTON 58

Father Tolton 19 11 16 12 — 58

Sikeston 17 14 18 21 — 70

FATHER TOLTON (58) – Zay Wilson 32, Aaron Rowe 8, Zion Luque 7, Blake Pingeton 5, Cortland Miller 4, Ryan Deakins 2. FG 25, FT 3-6, F 18. (3-pointers: Wilson 3, Pingeton 1, Luque 1. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (70) – Tristan Wiggins 26, P.J. Farmer 24, Trace Sadler 8, Chris Artis 4, Lekereon McCray 3, Kobe Thomas 3, Jaharus Goodwin 2. FG 24, FT 15-17, F 12. (3-pointers: Wiggins 4, Farmer 2, Thomas 1. Fouled out: none).