All Smiles: Scott County Central gets revenge on Sikeston 70-51

Sikeston has no answer for Braves' Otto Porter

sd_sports@yahoo.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- There was no answer for Otto Porter.

He was the scorer, the rebounder and the reason the Sikeston Bulldog offense had it's struggles inside. The 6-8 junior made his presence felt in a big way.

And believe it or not, Porter was the decoy.

"Basically, I was used as a decoy," Porter said. "That left the back open a lot more. They left other people open for a chance to score. It worked."

Sikeston head coach Gregg Holifield wasn't buying that.

"No," said Holifield. "I thought he was pretty darn good."

Porter was the force that helped carry the Braves on Wednesday night, but the emergence of some much needed help not named Otto Porter or Bobby Hatchett came just at the right time for Scott County Central as the Braves avenged last year's 86-85 epic loss to the Sikeston Bulldogs, 70-51.

Players like Trey Johnson and Dominique Porter stepped up in a big way for the Braves to complement the dominant performance of Otto Porter. Dominique Porter was the Braves' second leading scorer with 17 points while Johnson added 12.

"We knew coming in how difficult it was going to be," Holifield said. "Bobby and Otto played great but the players surrounding them played great. That's why they're a great team. They had a total team effort."

Otto Porter scored a game-high 25 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, one shy of the Bulldogs' team total of 18. The junior made great use of his gigantic wing-span with numerous offensive tip-backs above the shorter Sikeston defenders.

The rest of the Braves did as much as they could to help Porter in the rebounding efforts as well with a team total of 30.

"He's in there battling by himself," Hatchett said about Porter. "We knew they were going to shoot three's so the ball was going to come out longer. Usually we just go on and break and not have 10 more points. But, we stayed in in case the ball went long."

Scott Central packed it inside the paint and let the Bulldogs take as many 3-pointers as they wished for most of the night. Sikeston junior Will Holifield obliged in the first half.

He torched the Braves for 12 points in the first quarter with a 4-of-6 performance from 3-point range. The hot shooting of Will Holifield kept the Bulldogs close in the first quarter as the Braves got a 3-pointer from Dominique Porter in the closing seconds to take a 22-19 lead at the end of the first.

"They ended up hitting some shots in the first half and we wasn't getting on them like we should have," Scott Central head coach Kenyon Wright said. "For the most part we made them shoot the ball from out there and tried to pack it in the best we could."

Unfortunately for Sikeston, Holifield went down after a collision with Otto Porter just two minutes in to the second quarter. The two players smashed into each other's head causing Holifeld to suffer from concussion-like symptoms. Apart from Holifield's 4-of-8 from behind the arc Sikeston went on to shoot 5-of-18 the rest of the way.

"We didn't shoot it well," coach Holifield said. "Will went down and that's a large part of our team. We've got to have a shooter out there and he takes that pressure off."

The 2-3 zone implemented by the Braves continued to force Sikeston's hand at the outside shot, especially with Otto Porter patrolling under the basket. He finished with six blocked shots.

"With Otto in there I knew he could negate a lot of what we try to do, which he did," said Holifield. "He did a great job of taking away our inside game and that's a large part of our offense also."

Other than their nine 3-pointers, Sikeston only had eight other field goals. They shot 34 percent (17-of-50) from the field. Scott Central, however, shot 57 percent (30-of-53).

"That's the only way they was going to have to beat us," Hatchett said. "They were going to have to hit the three all night. If they would have hit the three all night it would have been a game all night. That's what we wanted."

Holifield's injury eventually sidelined the junior later in the second half. He added his final bucket with less than two minutes to play in the second quarter to make it 35-27 in favor of the Braves which eventually led to a 10-point Scott Central lead at halftime. Holifield would end up leading the Bulldogs with 14 points.

Scott Central went up by as much as 16 points to start the third quarter. Their 6-0 run was quickly matched by back-to-back 3-pointers - one from Terry Jamison, who finished with 10 points, and one from Janeil Hatchett, who finished with five. A basket by Darryl Howard at the 2:50 mark cut the Braves' lead to eight points, 47-39, but a 7-4 run by Scott Central to end the third gave the Braves a 54-43 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Two free throws from Eli Jackson and a basket by Corey Porter to begin the fourth quarter cut the deficit to seven points two minutes in, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get. A 10-3 run by the Braves in the next three minutes gave them a 64-50 lead and would end up being enough to hold on for the win.

"We just stayed focused," Hatchett said. "We've been working hard trying to figure out what we're going to do because they're a really good defensive team and they can trap real good. Everybody was just telling us to 'stick to our game plan and things were coming.'"

A 19-point victory for the Braves wasn't an outcome that many had envisioned after their one-point brawl last year. Holifield knew they had it in them to do just that.

"I knew they were capable of doing just what they did," coach Holifield said. "They came in and played exactly how they had to play to beat us."

Hatchett, who finished with 14 points and seven assists, hopped on the back of Otto Porter, just like the rest of the Braves did on Wednesday night, for a piggy back ride at the end of the game with both players smiling from ear to ear.

They know what it's like to be on the down side of a Sikeston-SCC game. Now, they know the other side as well.

"It made us want to play even harder," said Porter. "We were just real focused on the game. We just wanted to win real bad."

Scott Central 22 15 17 16 -- 70

Sikeston 19 9 15 8 -- 51

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (70) -- Dominique Porter 6-8 4-4 17, Bobby Hatchett 6-13 1-1 14, Trey Johnson 6-14 0-0 12, Otto Porter 12-16 1-3 25, Calvin Porter 0-1 0-0 0, John Rhoden 0-1 2-2 2. FG 30-53, FT 8-10.

SIKESTON (51) -- Juqualin Wiggins 4-7 3-4 11, Eli Jackson 0-1 3-6 3, Darryl Howard 2-9 1-2 6, Janeil Hatchett 2-8 0-0 5, Terry Jamison 3-9 1-2 10, Will Holifield 5-9 0-0 14, Corey Porter 1-7 0-0 2. FG 17-50, FT 8-14.

3-Point Goals--SCC 2-5 (D. Porter 1-1, B. Hatchett 1-4), Sikeston 9-26 (Holifield 4-8, Jamison 3-7, J. Hatchett 1-5, Howard 1-6). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--SCC 30 (O. Porter 17), Sikeston 18 (C. Porter 5). Assists--SCC 14 (B. Hatchett 7), Sikeston 12 (Howard 4). Total Fouls--SCC 11, Sikeston 15. Attendance--4,428.