Central boys basketball team upsets Sikeston in district final

~ The Tigers upended the top-seeded Bulldogs 68-52 for the Class 4 District 1 title

By Rachel Crader ~ Southeast Missourian

A loud blast of music came first. The shouts came next. There were no discernible words but a distinct air of celebration.

Next came Central junior Andre Statam running toward the noise, the net he and his teammates had just cut down draped around his neck.

"We got them nets," Statam said to no one in particular as he turned the corner toward the locker room where he joined his teammates in celebrating their 68-52 victory over Sikeston in the Class 4 District 1 championship Friday on their home court.

Central sophomore Al Young is fouled by Sikeston senior J. T. Jones going up for a layup during the Tigers' 68-52 win over the Bulldogs in the championship game of the Class 4 District 1 boys basketball tournament Friday, March 7, at Central High School in Cape Girardeau. (Adam Vogler)

"It feels very good," Central coach Drew Church said. "I'm so proud of those guys. Those three seniors have been with me for four years, and just to have a group of guys that buy in like that it's always great to see. They deserve every single bit of it."

The third-seeded Tigers entered the game as decided underdogs against the top-seeded and five-time defending champion Bulldogs, who had already beaten Central by 15 points on the same floor during the regular season, but they never played the part Friday night.

The Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed on their way to dethroning the Bulldogs a night after eliminating Notre Dame in a close semifinal contest.

"Everything was kind of against," Church said. "We had the hard game last night -- very fatigued, very tired, couple kids injured, don't have a chance to practice, but we had a walk-through about 5 o'clock and the kids focused in on our game plan and they bought in and they believed in it, and they did a heck of a job."

Part of Central's game plan was to let select Sikeston players shoot outside at will.

Central head coach Drew Church and senior Jamal Cox embrace after the Tigers' 68-52 win over the Sikeston Bulldogs in the championship game of the Class 4 District 1 boys basketball tournament Friday, March 7, at Central High School in Cape Girardeau. (Adam Vogler)

"We had three guys that we knew could shoot it, and when they took 3s we wanted them to be contested," Church said. "There were two or three other guys that we were going to let shoot, and we were able to recognize that and kind of limit their inside game. But if Sikeston shoots the ball well you're going to have a tough time beating them anyway, so we kind of had to roll the dice with letting certain people take shots and certain people not. We were very fortunate they only made how many they made."

The Bulldogs were 1 of 10 from behind the arc in the first quarter, missed 23 of their first 24 3-pointers and finished the game 7 of 41 from 3-point range.

"We forced some shots early that were not good shots," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We just didn't play very well offensively, but you have to give them credit. They did a good job of taking our inside presence away, and I thought we did force some bad shots early."

Central also tried to limit the inside production of Sikeston's all-state forward JT Jones, something senior Mikey Jones was tasked with.

"Mickey Jones is -- even though we had a lot of kids -- he's my MVP tonight," Church said. "He's an absolute warrior. To hold JT Jones to six points and just play every possession fronting the post, working. I told him I don't care if he got a rebound all night as long as JT, you get him off the boards."

The Tigers led 13-10 after the first quarter despite turning the ball over seven times in the period and led 24-19 at halftime after eight second-quarter turnovers.

While Central was 9 of 20 from the floor in the first half, Sikeston was just 7 of 30.

"They came out and really played well," Holifield said. "They took away a lot of what we do offensively. I thought we forced some perimeter shots early, and it kind of got us out of a flow. But they had a lot to do with that. They did a great job, and it's one of those games where it just didn't seem like a lot of things went our way, but they had a lot to do with that."

Central built its lead to 34-21 with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Jamal Cox, who finished with 20 points, scored on a nice assist from Al Young.

Sikeston's Chris Scott replied with a 3-pointer, and for a moment the nets opened for the Bulldogs. Two more Central turnovers -- the Tigers finished with 28 in the game -- were followed by two more 3-pointers by Sikeston to trim the lead to 34-30 with 2:16 to play in the third.

"We just had to keep our heads, keep playing our game," Cox said. "Even though we still had the lead and they were going on a run, we just had to slow them down and try to go on a run of our own."

Young, who finished with a game-high 25 points, needed just five seconds to drive down the court and score to break the run, and the Bulldogs never got as close as four points again.

"Al's got pretty good instincts," Church said. "You've got to slow him down sometimes, but one-on-one when he's got a head of steam he is hard to stay in front of. You don't want to take that away from him. There's kind of a fine line on when to go and when not, and he's getting a lot better at that."

An 11-3 run gave Central a 13-point lead with 3:47 left in the game and the Tigers made 8 of 10 free throws from that point to ice their third district title in four years. They won Class 5 District 1 in 2011 and 2012.

"It feels good as a sophomore to do it because last year we lost to them," Young said. "We were always talking -- this whole year through the summer was like, 'We'll get them back.'"

Central began the season with four consecutive losses after many players on the roster had to make a quick transition to basketball after being a part of the school's final four football team. The Tigers have 17 wins and 10 losses now.

"You know, we played a crazy hard schedule -- harder than we have in the past -- going to Jeff City-Helias, playing Carbondale, Illinois; McCracken County, Tennessee; Marion, Illinois, and losing games by one or two points," Church said. "That either makes or breaks you. That either pulls you together or it hurts you, and losing those games -- we just kept fighting together and staying together. Once in a while it clicks, and tonight it clicked a little bit."

The Tigers next opponent will be Farmington, which also happens to be the team they recorded their first win of the season against. Central defeated the Knights 52-42 on Dec. 22. The teams will meet in the state sectional round at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff.

"They've got two or three really good shooters," Church said about Farmington, which he believes has improved since the teams' first meeting. "They've got a big kid inside -- Ankrom -- who's very talented, can shoot it very strong inside. I haven't seen them since Christmas, but they press some, they play a zone, they'll play man -- they switch it up. It's going to be a very tough game."

Central 13 11 20 24 -- 68

Sikeston 10 9 20 13 -- 52

CENTRAL (68) -- Al Young 25, Jalen Reddin 6, Jamal Cox 20, Chase Hagerty 2, Mikey Jones 4, Andre Satam 11. FG 26, FT 14-23, F 16. (3-pointers: Young 1, Reddin 1. Fouled out: none)

SIKESTON (52) -- Corbyn Blissett 1, Jairius Ray 11, Chris Scott 14, Dominique Dyes 3, Marquese Parks 8, JT Jones 6, Reese Porter 7. FG 16, FT 13-20, F 21. (3-pointers: Scott 4, Dyes 1, Parks 2. Fouled out: Dyes)