Sikeston defense smothers St. Dominic to advance to tourney championship game

Marquel Murray (4) scores during Sikeston's semifinal win over St. Dominic at the St. Dominic Christmas Tournament on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024.

Photo courtesy of Jason Rudisill

O’FALLON, Mo. – The title game is set and it will be the powerhouse matchup that was expected in the 31st Annual St. Dominic Christmas Tournament.

Top-seeded Sikeston dominated fourth-seed and host St. Dominic 64-35, while second-seeded Timberland held off third-seeded Wentzville Holt 56-43 to set up a championship matchup tourney fans were hoping for.

Sikeston (9-1), ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 5, will take on Class 6 Timberland (9-0), ranked as one of the top large schools in the St. Louis area, in the championship game at 6 p.m.

Sikeston will be going for a St. Dominic Tournament record 10 championships tomorrow night.

“We’re excited to be back in the championship game,” Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. “This has always been a difficult tournament and we’ve been fortunate to have some success, but we know we have our hands full tomorrow night.”

On Friday, St. Dominic (3-4) struggled getting into any kind of flow on offense against Sikeston’s intense man-to-man pressure as the Bulldogs forced the Crusaders into 20 turnovers and created hurried shots all night long.

“We really emphasized defense this week,” Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. “We are preaching to not let your man catch the ball. I thought our pressure was really good and we were able to make things difficult on them.”

Sikeston opened the game with a 3-pointer by Tristan Wiggins followed by a drive from Chris Artis and a two-handed slam by 7-foot senior Trace Sadler to establish an early 7-2 lead.

St. Dominic cut the lead to 7-5, but things spiraled for the Crusaders from there.

Sikeston’s relentless defense helped trigger a scoring run as they closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run to lead 20-5.

In the second quarter, junior guard Marquel Murray opened with a reverse layup and a conventional 3-point play to take a 25-5 lead, capping an 18-0 run before the Crusaders could finally stop the streak.

St. Dominic kept things from getting out of hand with three 3-pointers, but it just delayed the inevitable as Sikeston closed the second quarter strong as well.

St. Dominic’s Reiter Kandlbinder hit a 3-pointer to narrow the deficit to 33-16, but the Bulldogs scored six straight points to lead 39-15 at the half.

Holifield substituted liberally throughout the game in an effort to keep his players rested.

“I’ve really made a point of giving everything you have for the time you are in the game, and I will get you in and out,” Holifield said. “We can’t play tired. We have to have fresh people at all times.”

The Bulldogs out-scored St. Dominic 23-10 in the third quarter to take a 62-26 lead heading into the fourth quarter where the mercy clock put a swift end to the game.

St. Dominic out-scored Sikeston 9-2 in the final quarter.

Wiggins led the Bulldogs’ offensive attack with 22 points.

Senior all-state guard P.J. Farmer, returning after sitting out Thursday’s first-round win over North Point with an ankle injury, scored 10 points with 5 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Junior Jaharus Goodwin chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Senior guard Lekereon McCray tied Farmer with four assists.

Artis and Malachi Davis also tied Farmer for team-high honors in rebounds with five apiece.

Thursday’s game was a rematch of last year’s tournament championship, a game Sikeston won 85-57, but St. Dominic lost most of that team’s production to graduation, and this year’s team starts five sophomores.

The Crusaders were led by sophomore guard Reiter Kandlbinder with nine points, all on three 3-pointers.

“St. Dominic is a young team and they’ve played some top teams tough this year,” Holifield said. “The future is bright for that program.”

Both Sikeston and Timberland have met just three times throughout the Bulldogs’ 15 years in the tournament, but Saturday’s matchup will be the first time the two schools will meet in the championship game.

“Timberland is very talented, very big and very athletic,” Holifield said. “We know and expect a very difficult matchup. The things they do can cause us problems and we know we will have to play great to have a chance to win the game.”

SIKESTON 64, ST. DOMINIC 35

SIKESTON (64) – Tristan Wiggins 22, P.J. Farmer 10, Jaharus Goodwin 10, Marquel Murray 7, Kobe Thomas 5, Chris Artis 4, Trace Sadler 2, Will Lape 2, Lekereon McCray 2. FG 28, FT 5-7, F 11. (3-pointers: Wiggins 2, Thomas 1. Fouled out: none).

ST. DOMINIC (35) – Reiter Kandlbinder 9, Kaynen Simmons 5, Ace Armstrong 4, Austin Ryan 4, Luke Roberts 3, Leo Summers 2, Grant Giesmann 2, Colin Otto 2, Cole Bergkoetter 2, Nolan Struckman 2. FG 14, FT 3-6, F 9. (3-pointers: Kandlbinder 3, Armstrong 1. Fouled out: none).