Braves win 15th state championship

Dadeville puts up fight but SCC earns title 69-54

sd_sports@yahoo.com

COLUMBIA -- They held the number three up as high as they could reach.

For three-straight years, the Scott County Central Braves have sat atop the Class 1 scene as one of the better teams in the state.

They possess three state trophies, and three fingers, to prove it.

Scott Central won their third consecutive Class 1 state championship on Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. They completed the 3-peat defeating the Dadeville Bearcats, 69-54, for their 15th state championship -- the most for any school in any class in the state of Missouri.

"It's what we've been working for," Scott Central senior Otto Porter said. "It just paid off at the end."

Porter led the Braves in scoring for the last time as he finished a very successful high school career with 27 points, nine rebounds and three steals. The 6-9, nationally recognized recruit, shot 10 of 14 from the floor and was a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line.

"I can't even describe it," said Porter. "It just feels so good."

Although most would have predicted that the Braves, with Porter shouldering the load, would see little opposition on their way to adding another championship to an already storied program, Dadeville didn't abide by the norm.

Unlike most on Scott Central's beaten path, the Bearcats never saw the Braves go ahead by 40, 30 or even 20 points. The most SCC could separate themselves was by 18. Dadeville gave the defending state champs what the majority couldn't -- a fight.

"(Dadeville) wanted to come out here and fight for it," Scott Central head coach Kenyon Wright said. "This is the state championship -- not just some other basketball game. You come up here and play on this floor and make it this far, there's no pushovers."

It was a different type of contest than the one played just a season ago between both teams. Scott Central blistered Dadeville by 33 points in last year's semifinal game at the Hearnes Center.

"Last year we played Scott County and they beat us up pretty good from the start," Dadeville coach Michael Linehan said. "It was a very frustrating game for us. We knew they were a great, great basketball team but we just didn't fell like we played our best. We left that game not knowing how well we could have competed even if we had played our best. To not know is the most frustrating thing.

"It was our goal to come in here tonight and play our best and see what the results were, see if we could compete and see if we could put ourselves in position to win even late in the game."

Although the Braves eventually went ahead by 10 points (20-10) after the first quarter, which involved a 9-0 run by SCC, the first hint at a different type of game came in the second quarter.

Going into the second frame Dadeville rattled off five-straight, a jumper by Jacob Goodman and a 3-pointer by Trenton Bergmann, to make it a 20-15 game.

Being at Mizzou Arena for the second time in two years played a major part in Dadeville's mind.

"We came out here confident and played hard right off the bat," Linehan said. "These guys have a lot of pride. They were going to fight and scrap and claw and try to stay in the game and show everybody what they could do."

Although five points was as close as they would come to the Braves, Dadeville didn't let it get out of hand.

Dadeville had employed a 1-3 zone with Goodman trailing Porter wherever he went on the floor. Goodman, a 6-0 senior, held Porter to just 10 points in the first half on 4 of 7 shooting.

"He guarded me well," Porter said about Goodman. "He bodied me a little bit. On offense I just moved and tried to get him wore out a little bit. He played real good defense. We just tried to get everybody else open."

"Their gameplan on Bubba was great," Scott Central senior Stewart Johnson added. "I ain't seen anyone guard him that good all year."

The rest of the Bearcats forced Scott Central into more jumpers than they usually like to take which ended up giving the Braves a 38 percent shooting clip on 12 of 31 from the floor. That included 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

"Early in the season coach told me I might have to guard him," said Goodman about Porter. "I knew I had to go out there and give it all my heart. If I tried as hard as I could, who knows what could happen. He's a very good player. I felt like I did pretty good on him."

"Otto's got an inch or two on (Goodman)," Linehan said jokingly. "He bodied up with him and pushed and fought all game. I think that kind of says how bad the whole team wanted it."

Dadeville made a concerted effort to concentrate on Porter with Goodman and shade shooters in their zone. But their top priority was being the first man back on defense limiting Scott Central's fast-break opportunities which have overwhelmed teams in the past.

"The number one thing was transition defense," said Linehan. "Getting back and getting those breaks stopped."

Scott Central scored 21 points off of turnovers and 12 on fast breaks.

The Braves, behind a combined effort from all on the floor, went up by as much as 16 points after a conventional 3-point play by Stewart Johnson to make it 35-19 with just under a minute to play in the half.

A layup by Zach Medley ended up being the last points scored in the first half. Scott Central led 35-21 at halftime.

"They didn't let us have a lot of passes and cut- throughs like we usually do," Scott Central junior Dominique Porter said. "We had to just pull up and shoot."

Two-straight buckets by Dominique Porter gave the Braves their biggest lead of the night at 18 points (39-21). A jumper by Dadeville's Dakota Webb and a 3-pointer by Bergmann quickly cut the deficit back to 13 with 4:51 left in the third.

From there it was a back and forth. The Bearcats pulled as close as 10 points twice in the remaining portions of the second half -- a 3-pointer by Zach Medley, who led Dadeville with 19 points, made it 49-39 with 35 seconds left in the third and a layup by Bergmann, who scored 14, made it 57-47 with 3:57 left in the fourth.

"The last several games we've played, we've got up a little bit," Wright said, "we just couldn't put (Dadeville) away. We kind of left it at 15 or 17 most of the game and we never could jump over the hump. They'd hit a three or we'd throw a ball away or something like that. That's whenever those bad decisions would happen here of there and kind of go their way."

A 3-point play by Otto Porter with 1:06 left in regulation put little in doubt as the Braves went ahead 69-52. Both the crowd and the bench began to feel a victory close at hand.

"We missed a lot of steals that we normally get," said Wright. "The ball just wasn't bouncing the way it does normally. It was bouncing the other way mostly. It ended up bouncing our way in the end. That's what matters."

Dominique Porter was second in scoring with 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting. Stewart Johnson added 11 points and three assists as well.

"I can't be anymore prouder of my teammates," Johnson said. "It was a tough road getting here. All the line drills, everything we did to get to this point paid off. I can't be any more happier."

Scott Central will be saying goodbye to 10 seniors -- most notably Otto Porter. Porter hasn't yet narrowed down a college choice but has Missouri, Georgetown and Kansas still on his radar.

When asked if Saturday was the last time we would see the Show-Me Showdown All-Time leading scorer playing on the Mizzou Arena floor, Porter responded in true form.

"I don't know," he said with a beaming smile. "Good question."

Dadeville 10 11 18 15 -- 54

Scott Central 20 15 16 18 -- 69

DADEVILLE (54) -- Jacob Goodman 2, Trent Bergmann 14, Zach Medley 19, Dakota Webb 13, Ben Dobbins 6. FG 20, F 18, FT 6-10. (3-pointers: Bergmann 4, Medley 4. Fouled out: Dobbins)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (69) -- Stewart Johnson 11, Trey Johnson 5, Otto Porter 27, Dominique Porter 18, Reggie Woodson 5, Lamarcus Steward 3. FG 26, F 14, FT 15-17. (3-pointers: T. Johnson 1, D. Porter 1. Fouled out: none)