Scott County Central comes up short against Blue Devils

Scott County Central's Jaylen Porter attempts to dribble past a pair of West Memphis, Ark., players along the sideline on Friday in the Riverbend Classic at New Madrid. David Jenkins, Staff

NEW MADRID -- Some would call this year's version of the Scott County Central Braves, for lack of a better term, short.

With an average team height barely reaching 6-foot, the Braves looked even more vertically challenged when walking onto the floor with the trees that were the West Memphis Blue Devils.

Although, the Braves did not let their disadvantage of being the short guys hinder their upset bid, the Blue Devils were simply too tall of an order to take down as they fell 75-61 during the third game of the 13th Annual Riverbend Classic at New Madrid County Central High School.

"The kids paid attention and done exactly what we've been working on the last couple of days with them," Scott Central coach Kenyon Wright said about going against the favored Blue Devils. "Whenever they can go out and execute a gameplan that you put for them, against a team like West Memphis as big as they are, for the kids to focus on that was a big step forward for our kids."

West Memphis, who feature seven players above 6-4 which includes one 6-9, one 6-8 and one 6-7, was hit early by the scrappy Braves as SCC jumped out to a 9-2 lead behind seven points from senior Dominique Porter.

Although the Braves enjoyed the early gut-check to the Blue Devils, West Memphis charged back with a 17-2 run to close out the first quarter. Two 3-pointers by Nicholas Sanders and one other by senior guard Latrell Cunningham helped lift the Blue Devils in front where they would never trial again.

The Braves went down by 15 points at one point in the second quarter, but hung tough as they tipped and swatted the Blue Devils to death resulting in steals and fast break points on the other end.

Scott Central (0-1) trailed 40-30 at the half.

Six-straight points by junior Jalen Porter pulled the Braves to within three points, 49-46, with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.

With momentum definitely in the Braves' favor, West Memphis, however, rattled off eight-straight points to make sure it would be the closest the defending Class 1 state champions would come.

"We had a little excitement and things started to go our way there," Wright said about their push for a lead. "And then, all of a sudden, they hit a jumper and the momentum just swung the other way and we kind of slacked a bit."

Cunningham led the Blue Devils with 22 points, including three 3-pointers. 6-7 senior Willie Atwood added 20 points while 6-8 senior Chauncy Parker put up 10 points.

Dominique Porter paced the Braves with 27 points to lead all scorers of Day 1 action at the Riverbend. Jalen Porter scored 16 while Lamarcus Steward added 8.

"The kids kept their head," said Wright about his team's first game of the season. "That's the most important thing with this group we've got. They work hard. If they can keep their heads on straight, they have an opportunity to be decent and to be able to compete with some teams around our area, hopefully."

WEST MEMPHIS (75) -- Willie Atwood 20, Latrell Cunningham 22, Chauncy Parker 10, Christian Carson 4, Roy Gray 2, Julius Barton 2, Nicholas Sanders 9, Larry Arnold 6. FG 29 FT 11-17 F 17 (3-pointers: Cunningham 3, Sanders 3. Fouled out: none.)

SCC (61) -- Larandis Banks 6, Jalen Porter 16, Antonio Johnson 4, Dominique Porter 27, Lamarcus Steward 8. FG 25 FT 9-16 F 16 (3-pointers: D. Porter 1, Steward 1. Fouled out: none.)