Sikeston smashes records, dominates Cape Central for SEMO Conference Title

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Sikeston celebrates winning the 2024 SEMO Conference Tournament at the Field House on Friday, Dec. 13.

Dennis Marshall ~ Standard-Democrat

SIKESTON — Sikeston didn’t just win the SEMO Conference Championship on Friday — it left no doubt about which program owns the tournament.

With a 90-52 win over Cape Central, the Bulldogs (6-0) set records for the most points scored and the largest margin of victory in a title game. The win marked a second consecutive championship and 10th overall, more than the combined total of the rest of the teams in the conference.

“We really found our rhythm tonight,” said Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield. “The energy was contagious, and everything just clicked. Being aggressive play on both offense and defense started to pay off. It was like a domino effect – the guys really started to feed off each other and we got tougher down the stretch.”

The dominance extends far beyond the lopsided matchup with the Tigers (4-2). Over the course of the tournament, Sikeston had a 35-point average margin of victory, matching the record set by last year’s title-winning squad for the largest in tournament history.

The Bulldogs have a long history of dominating the tournament, including winning nine of their 10 championships by an average of more than 20 points per game.

Charleston's 18-point average in its 2006 title run is the highest margin of victory achieved by any other champion.

SIKESTON 90, CAPE CENTRAL 52

Cape Central	16	13	11	10	—	52
Sikeston	26	21	25	18	—	90

Cape Central (52) — Mar’K Mills 14, TySeanDre’ Edwards 14, Jaidyn Johnson 7, Landrick McFerren 5, Goliath Morris-Young 5, Antonio Sims 4, Deshawn Sims 2, Matayo Rivers 1. FG: 16. FT: 14-17. F: 16. (3-pointers: Mills 2, Johnson 2, McFerren 1, Edwards 1. Fouled out: Rivers.)

Sikeston (90) — PJ Farmer 25, Marquel Murray 13, Tristan Wiggins 11, Trace Sadler 8, Chris Artis 8, Malachi Davis 7, Lekereon McCray 6, Marcus Sanders Jr. 5, Jaharus Goodwin 4, Kobe Thomas 3. FG: 37-62. FT: 11-15. F: 21. (3-pointers: Murray 3, Davis 1, Sanders Jr. 1. Fouled out: None.)

This story will be updated with a full game recap and player highlights. Check back at Semoball.com later this weekend and look for the complete story in the Tuesday print edition of the Sikeston Standard-Democrat.

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Love Sikeston’s strategy here of just simply moving in the best players from the conference. The other SEMO conf schools should be taking notes.

-- Posted by Dr. Acula on Sat, Dec 14, 2024, at 5:38 AM
Great win BUT! Anybody with good eyes could see that the calls were totally in Sikeston’s favor! Sikeston had 3guys with 3fouls and they finished the game with 3fouls. Both team were aggressive on D but the calls weren’t consistent. Sikeston is allowed to tie cape up but it doesn’t happen the other way it’s a foul! Sadler taunting a cape player after the dunk no tech… farmer pulling himself on the rim no tech.. Edward’s l got a tech for that same dunk vs Charleston but not vs Sikeston in Sikeston! 3rd quarter Cape closes the gap and the whistles came out the game out batted wide open!

-- Posted by That Dude on Sat, Dec 14, 2024, at 6:53 AM
Why is this story not in the Southeast Missourian?

-- Posted by 66Indian on Sun, Dec 15, 2024, at 7:07 AM
All these haters sound like fans!!!

-- Posted by clayatlas on Sun, Dec 15, 2024, at 8:17 PM
Just to clarify…Edwards got a T against Charleston for slapping the backboard on his dunk. It is against the rules to slap the backboard on a dunk and a T is the penalty for breaking the rule.

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Mon, Dec 16, 2024, at 6:35 AM
I want to know how in the world Murray had 14 practices in 4 days of eligibility had to be able to play in this tournament.

-- Posted by SEMOFAN86 on Mon, Dec 16, 2024, at 7:27 AM
A student-athlete is able to practice before a hearing to determine eligibility. If MSHSAA had ruled Marquel ineligible he would have been relegated to “sub varsity” sports…aka JV.

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Mon, Dec 16, 2024, at 8:24 AM

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