COLUMBIA, Mo. • The Borgia basketball team's season turned in early February and a 10-game win streak propelled the Knights into the Missouri Class 4 championship game on Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
But this wasn't Borgia's year. That distinction will go to the top-ranked and undefeated Sikeston Bulldogs, who overwhelmed the Knights in the first half and held on in the final minutes for a 74-55 victory and the team's first state title.
"I think they're a great champion," Borgia coach Dave Neier said. "They obviously deserve it. There was a reason they were undefeated coming into this game and they showed it tonight. They played an exceptional game."
It was the third consecutive title game for Borgia (21-9), which is ranked seventh in Class 4. The Knights won their fifth state championship in 2009 and have now finished second four times.
"Sikeston had a great team this year," Borgia guard Bryce Dolan said. "They really did. There's a reason they are undefeated. A lot of people counted us out earlier in the year, but we really showed some heart coming down the stretch. We got here and I think we showed what we can do."
Sikeston (30-0) was able to avenge back-to-back quarterfinal losses against the Knights the last two seasons to win its first title.
"We have a lot of respect for their program and we focus on trying to get to a level to compete with them every day in practice," Sikeston coach Gregg Holifield said. "We really look at them as the elite program."
Sikeston's powerful 6-foot-2, 290-pound senior forward Corey Porter was a difference-maker with a game-high 24 points. He had help in senior guard Will Holifield (14 points, four 3-pointers) and senior forward Janeil Hatchett (13 points, game-high nine rebounds).
Porter and Holifield staked the Bulldogs to a 22-10 lead after one quarter, a 20-point advantage in the second quarter and 42-24 edge at halftime.
"I think we were just too passive the first half," Neier said. "We had to get a lot more aggressive defensively. We had to fly around a little bit more and get more deflections. Had to attack more on offense ... Sikeston is a great champion. They did an unbelievable job in this game."
Borgia, which was paced by senior forward Ben Ruether (16 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots in 32 minutes) and Dolan (14 points, four 3-pointers), made a push in the second half.
"We knew they weren't going to go away," Gregg Holifield said.
The Knights outscored Sikeston 22-15 in the third quarter and cut the deficit to eight on a Ruether 3-pointer with 7 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in the fourth, but could not get any closer.
Sikeston shot 59.6 percent for the game (28 of 47) and 68.4 percent in the second half (13 of 19), finishing with a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint, with 13 second-chance points and 12 fast-break points.
"They're a team to always keep your eye on, especially when they are the ones that are beating you every year to keep you from that next step," Porter said. "Their record didn't really show how talented they were ... I think teams overlooked them. Well, we've lost too many times to overlook Borgia."
