Scott Central races by Bell City, 80-58

POPLAR BLUFF -- Four years worth of disappointment, after disappointment for the Scott County Central Braves all came to a culmination on Tuesday night. The Braves applied all of the upsetting sectional losses from previous years into an 80-58 rout of their rival, the Bell City Cubs at the E.T. Peters Gym in Poplar Bluff.

"Finally," Braves head coach Ronnie Cookson said. "Finally, after five years. It took a long time."

The Braves came out of the gate with a very determined pressure defense that stifled Bell City for the first two minutes of the game. Scott Central scored six unanswered to open the contest. One made free throw by Phillip Gross put the Cubs on the board for the first time at around the six minute mark.

After a 3-point play by Nick Niemczyk to make it a two point game, the Braves utilized their turnover skills on defense to go on a 9-0 run and make it a 15-4 game. At the end of one period, Scott Central held a 21-10 lead.

As the first half was drawing to a close, D.D. Gillespie ended it the second quarter in dramatic style. Gillespie sank a 25-foot 3-pointer as he fell towards the ground to make it a 40-22 Scott Central lead at halftime.

The Scott County Central defense paid special attention to Bell City's leading scorer Nick Niemczyk.

The Scott County Central defense paid special attention to Bell City's leading scorer Nick Niemczyk.

After Gillespie's acrobatic shot ended the first half, the momentum certainly seemed to be at the Braves disposal. But, the Cubs had other plans.

Bell City took advantage of missed opportunities on offense by the Braves, to cut an 18-point lead down to 12, 47-35, with 2:53 left to play in the third quarter.

"We knew that they was going to come out hot in the third quarter," Cookson said. "We kind of lulled on our offense just a little bit. Nobody really called the offense out like they should have."

Unfortunately for the Cubs, Scott Central used the rest of that 2:53 to regain their offensive composure. The Braves outscored Bell City 12-3 to close out the third quarter with a 59-38 advantage heading in to the final quarter.

With 4:12 left in the fourth quarter, the Scott Central fans started the "S-C-

Scott Central's fans cheer on the Braves.

Scott Central's fans cheer on the Braves.

C" chant as their Braves went up 72-48. The Braves were ahead by as much as 27 points during the fourth. But, as the substitutions started to begin for both teams, the Cubs shortened it to a 22 point deficit to end the game and their playoff winning streak.

"We just got our butts kicked tonight, bottom-line," Bell City head coach Brian Brandtner said. "It was their night and they played like it. They played real well.

"Their perimeter defense kept us from going inside. They got out and got wide on us and we just didn't make real good decisions tonight. We didn't attack the middle like we wanted. I give credit to Scott County Central, they got after it and they deserve it."

Trying to contain Niemczyk from the field was the underlying statement from all Braves players. Niemczyk was limited to an 18-point performance tonight, which is one of his lowest scoring totals on the season.

"Coming into the game, we knew we had to stop Niemczyk," Braves senior Caleb Johnson said. "He's mainly their offense and he gets them going so, we limited him to under 20 points and got a win."

Johnson finished the game with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while fellow senior teammate D.D. Gillespie had 10 points and six assists.

"I think we played great," Gillespie said. "We hit the boards and we played good defense. We tried to keep the ball in front of us and tried to limit Niemczyk's shots."

Leading the way for the Braves was Drew Thomas. Thomas finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. He was also 6-7 from the free throw line.

"It's a great feeling to beat a great team like Bell City," Thomas said. "For us to come away with a win like that, it's an honor."

"I think our defense contained him tonight," Thomas said of Niemczyk. "He shot a pretty good amount of shots. We just contested them all and we worked hard on him."

Niemczyk struggled from 3-point range going 2-8, while Ethan Watkins shot over 50 percent (7-13) from behind the arc to lead all scorers with 21 points, all stemming from 3-pointers.

Bobby Hatchett and Otto Porter also achieve double digits in points for Scott Central. Hatchett scored 14 with six assists and Porter ended up with 12 points.

After defeating Bell City (25-4) for the first time in post-season play since 2004, Scott Central (26-2) will now advance to their first quarterfinal round since 1994, when they will take on the winner of the Chadwick/Verona game at the West Plains Civic Center on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.