sports@standard-democrat.com
COLUMBIA -- For most teams that win a state championship, when the final buzzer sounds there is an explosion of joy and celebration that culminates with the winning team storming the floor and mobbing each other.
But for the Scott County Central Braves, there was a completely different reaction on Saturday afternoon.
The Braves captured the school's 17th boys basketball state championship with a 69-39 win over Meadville in the Class 1 title game on Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
There was no celebration. There was no mobbing of teammates on the court.
Mostly there were tears and hugs.
But these were tears of joy and, perhaps, relief.
"This is going to stay with me forever," Scott Central senior Kendall Blissett said. "I always dreamed about coming up here and just being a champion and being on a championship team. After last year I think we came together as a stronger team and said that we weren't going to go out like we did the past year. We just had to come up here and get it done and prove people wrong."
After coming up short in the quarterfinal round last year to eventual champion Eminence, Scott Central hoisted the first place trophy for the fifth time in the past six years.
Scott Central head coach Frank Staple, now in his second season at the helm, said a state championship was the only way his team would be satisfied this year.
"These guys wanted to go out as champions and they're here now," Staple said, who was visibly emotional after claiming victory. "The way they performed today I think is something they can take with them forever. And now they can tell some of the Scott Central stories. You know, 'we came up to state and won the championship game by 30.' They have a lot of good memories now and they're part of the lore. Part of the legend."
Meadville coach Darren Smith, who has directed the Eagles to six straight district championships and the school's second ever Show-Me Showdown appearance following last year's fourth place finish, sat down in the interview room after the contest and was asked to give a few general comments on the game.
"They're pretty good," he laughed. "They're pretty good," drawing a few agreeing laughs and nods from the media contingent in the room. Smith continued, "Their tradition is fantastic. Their legacy is fantastic. That's a great team out there. My kids weren't in awe."
Maybe the Eagles players were not in awe, but this was a game that Scott Central was not going to be denied, including senior Larandis Banks, who was a starter on the Braves' state championship team two years ago.
"This is my senior year and we wanted to come out and end it with a bang," Banks said. "Nobody really thought we could do it."
The Braves (26-5) disrupted Meadville's offense the entire night, forcing the Eagles into 30 turnovers. The Braves scored 40 of its 69 points off of turnovers.
"We gave the ball to them too many times and I think that was a big key," Meadville coach Darren Smith.
Meadville (25-4), known as a sharp-shooting team, was forced into very deep, NBA-range 3-pointers by the Braves' pressure defense out of the 1-2-2 zone as well as man-to-man. The Eagles finished 5 of 20 from 3-point range.
"We weren't just going to let them to stand out there and get comfortable shooting 3's," Staple said. "We were going to try to push their offense back out to close to half-court as we could and try to make their shots contested and rushed. And I think that had a lot to do with tired legs. That's a big part of their offense, the outside game."
Smith echoed Staple's comments, saying the Braves' athleticism played a role in his offense's struggles.
"They're so quick and they're so physical with it and they're just long and athletic," Smith said. "If you see my team at all, we don't mind shooting a 25-footer. We don't mind that so much, but they're contesting us out there and that's not a good thing. They do a lot of things to get you out of your comfort zone and we were out of our comfort zone quite a bit of the time. When you do that it's hard to get in any kind of a flow. I never felt like my shooters ever got into any kind of flow."
The Braves dominated the game from the start, forcing Meadville into 10 turnovers in the first quarter alone. Senior Juwan Owens hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Braves a 17-9 lead after one quarter.
It was the beginning of a big night for Owens, who finished with a game-high 27 points, hitting 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
"I stepped up tonight and they just kept feeding me the ball," Owens said. "I had to stay aggressive. I just wanted to come out and get the win. If that meant for me to stay aggressive and put some buckets in the hole, that's what I had to do."
Scott Central led by as much as 16 in the second quarter, but Meadville finished the half on a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to 32-22 by halftime.
The Braves held the Eagles to 2 of 10 shooting from 3-point range in the first half and 40 percent shooting overall from the field.
The Braves put the game out of reach in the third quarter, out-scoring the Eagles 19-8 in the period to take a 51-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
"I thought tonight one of the things we knew we had to do was come out and set the tempo," Staple said. "We did a great job of that in the third quarter. I thought against Stanberry we had a little let-down in the third quarter and allowed them to get back in the game. But at halftime we just kind of talked about just pushing it out. We got some full-court pressure in the third quarter and really was able to spread them out."
Scott Central eventually enforced the mercy clock in the fourth quarter, out-scoring Meadville 18-9 in the final frame.
Owens scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half. The Braves needed every bit of it as Meadville concentrated his defense on containing Scott Central's leading scorers Banks and sophomore point guard Jeffery Porter. Banks finished with 11 points on 5 of 14 shooting while Porter was held to eight points on just five shot attempts.
"Obviously Juwan had the hot hand tonight so we just kept on feeding him the ball and everybody else just had to do what they had to do to step up and win the ballgame as well," said Blissett, who led the team with nine rebounds.
The Braves finished 8 of 15 from 3-point range and were 11 of 15 from the free throw line.
Meadville only attempted three free throws. The Eagles were led by 6-foot-3 senior post Kolton Friesner's 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting.
"We never could get to where we could dump it down," Smith said. "If we could get (Friesner) the ball he could finish. But I almost think that was something where they were pressuring the guards so hard they were willing to give up a 2 to keep us from getting 3."
Saturday's win was especially sweet for Staple, who admitted after Thursday's semifinal win over Stanberry the pressures of winning that came with accepting the head coaching role at Scott Central. Prior to becoming the head coach, Staple spent three years as an assistant coach under previous head coach Kenyon Wright.
Staple was asked after the game about the difference between winning a state title as an assistant compared to a head coach.
"I'm going to savor this and enjoy this," Staple said. "It's great to win it as an assistant but it's totally different as a head coach. It's an honor to be here at Scott Central and now to be able to have my name on that banner as the head coach is just something that I will cherish forever. But it's not about me at all, it's about these kids. This was my first bunch here. I've had these guys since eighth grade. We've just had a lot of good times together and put in a lot of hard work. I yelled at them a lot and got in their butts a lot but it's all love and I'm just proud of them. Any time you get to this point it's a lot of joy but I'm really sad to see them go. I'm so proud that they were able to go out and win a state title in dominating fashion."
Scott Central 17 15 19 18 -- 69
Meadville 9 13 8 9 -- 39
SCOTT CENTRAL (69) -- Juwan Owens 27, Larandis Banks 11, Jeffery Porter 8, Cameron Blissett 7, Kendall Blissett 6, Matthew Blissett 6, Javonta Daniel 4. FG 25, FT 11-15, F 10. (3-pointers: Owens 5, Banks 1, Porter 1, C. Blissett 1. Fouled out: none).
MEADVILLE (39) -- Kolton Friesner 18, Cade Shiflett 10, T.J. Schmitz 6, Dalton Palmer 3, Blake Burkholder 2. FG 16, FT 2-3, F 14. (3-pointers: Shiflett 2, Schmitz 2, Palmer 1. Fouled out: none).