COLUMBIA, MO – As time ticked away and the outcome of the Class 5 state championship was no longer in doubt, MICDS coach Travis Wallace crouched behind the water cooler, placed his face in his hands and wept.
It was a scene not dissimilar to the one from March 2019, when, as the head coach of Jennings, Wallace sat all alone in a locker room, face in his hands, still in shock after Ladue erased a four-point deficit in the final three seconds of regulation to defeat Jennings in a state sectional.
Or the scene after a buzzer-beating loss to Riverview Gardens in the district championship game in 2016. Or the scene after a narrow playoff loss to Normandy in 2014 after having defeated the Vikings twice during the regular season.
“I’ve had some bad luck,” Wallace said. “I can’t remember all the wins, but I remember the losses.”
That luck, along with his reason for shedding tears, changed drastically last Saturday when MICDS used a blistering third quarter rally to defeat Sikeston 55-38 and win the Class 5 state championship at the 2026 MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown in Mizzou Arena.
MICDS (27-4) won its second state title in program history and first since winning a Class 3 title in 2002.
Trailing 21-20 at halftime, MICDS seemed content with playing at a slow pace. Sikeston (29-3), which had scored more than 80 points in over half their games, including 111 against Poplar Bluff, utilized a full-court press to try to speed up the game, but the Rams did not take the bait.
But unfortunately for the Rams, senior Brandon Clemens missed a pair of wide open threes, Tyler Ray was stymied on multiple baseline drives and the free throw woes that appeared during the state quarterfinal round, resurfaced.
“When we were down by one at halftime, all we said was, ‘That was the worst half of basketball we’ve played in three weeks,’” Clemens said.
Ray added, “When it matters, we bring it together at some point, and that’s why we’re here.”
No time mattered more than the second half of the state championship game, and Wallace pulled a surprise ace from his sleeve. Sensing some stagnation from the Sikeston offense on the first two possessions, MICDS decided to speed up the game and apply its own full court press.
Nicknamed ‘12’ for its 1-2-2 shape, the press produced three successive, live-ball turnovers. Clemens’ steal and finger roll started the spurt, Ray picked off an errant pass and found Jason Stokes for a corner 3, and when Gabe Weaver made a steal and found Stokes for a goaltended layup, the Rams had scored eight points in 49 seconds and took a 32-22 lead.
“Pressing teams don’t like to be pressed. Once we went to the ‘12,’ the game just changed,” Wallace said.
And so did all the momentum.
After a Sikeston timeout, Clemens swished a pull-up jumper, Stokes scored a tough drive through traffic and Weaver and Mims combined on a beautiful give-and-go in transition. A buzzer-beating layup by Clemens gave MICDS a 22-5 third quarter advantage and a 16-point lead.
The Rams went 10-of-13 from the field during those decisive eight minutes.
“We turned it on in that third quarter,” Clemens said.
And the Rams turned on their signature defense, holding a Sikeston team that averages nearly 76 points per game to half that total, while limiting the Bulldogs to 22 percent shooting (5-of-23) in the second half.
“Defensively, it was just another day at the gig. Nothing special. That’s just what we do. We guard,” Wallace said.
Guarding Sikeston was quite a challenge in the first half. Marquell Murray and Ben James drained triples on the Bulldogs’ first two possessions. Acrobatic layups in transition by Ben James and Jaharus Goodwin spun Sikeston into a 19-12 lead.
But baskets by Clemens, Ray and Keshon Mims closed the gap in the final minutes and when Ray converted a tip-in at the buzzer, MICDS trailed by only one point, 21-20 at halftime.
“As we went in (to halftime), we talked about how we got the shots that we wanted, we just had to make them,” Wallace said. “You don’t get all the way here and change what you do. We just stuck with what we did, and when we went to the ’12,’ it changed the game.”
It’s not the first time during the postseason that Wallace pulled something out of his back pocket to help change a game.
In the Rams’ double overtime, state quarterfinal victory against Holt, Wallace designed two buzzer-beating shots by Keshon Mims to end the second and third quarters, then somehow navigated a dismal 3-for-16 stretch of MICDS free throw shooting in the fourth quarter and overtime to give the Rams a chance to win in double-OT.
Wallace reached the final four as a player at Jennings High three times, earning a third place (1997) and two fourth place finishes (1999, 2000) and led Jennings to a third-place finish as head coach in 2018. For Wallace, who has a 317-89 career coaching record, the realization of an elusive dream was emotional.
“This means so much to me, but it’s not about me. Jennings made me who I am. This state title obviously is for MICDS, but Jennings doesn’t have a state title. This is also for them, it’s for all my former players, all my former coaches. That’s the emotion,” Wallace said.
He added, “I never thought it would happen. I’m just happy, and so proud of my team.”
For a photo gallery from this game, visit this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Boys-Basketball-Photos/Boys-Basketball-2025-26/MICDS-vs-Sikeston-Class-5-championship
