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Scott County Central rallies to defeat Malden 88-84
SIKESTON -- It was just two short weeks ago that Scott County Central and Malden squared off for the Oran Invitational Tournament title. Despite a strong push by the Green Wave, it was the Braves who brought home the championship, 71-67, for the seventh-straight year.
On Friday the Green Wave looked prepared to dish out a little redemption, taking a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter while Braves star junior, Jeffery Porter, was stuck in foul trouble.
With a late rally that included 10 points from Porter, however, the Braves once again pulled out a four-point decision over Malden, 88-84, that gives them seven wins in their first eight games.
"I tell all my guys I trust them and when one goes down we just have to keep playing," Scott Central head coach Frank Staple said of fighting through foul trouble. "We were able to maintain. They got up by seven, but we never panicked and that's the sign of a championship team, not to panic. We were able to cut the deficit, come back and win. That's a good job from my team."
Neither team was able to get much separation through the first three quarters, but just seconds into the fourth quarter Porter picked up his fourth foul sending him to the bench. It wasn't long after that the Green Wave reeled off three-straight baskets to take a 77-70 lead with 4:45 to play.
Porter reentered the game soon after and helped lead a comeback in the final three minutes, starting with a 3-pointer to close the Braves within two possessions at 79-75.
Following a missed shot from Malden, Scott Central closed its deficit to within a bucket on a Matt Blissett put-back.
The Green Wave were whistled for an intentional foul soon after and Javonta Daniel hit one of his two free throws before connecting on a jumper to put his team ahead 80-79 with 1:41 to play.
"It was the same competitive nature both ways with Scott County and us," Malden head coach Andrew Halford said. "Three turnovers up seven down the stretch will kill you."
After swapping leads once again Scott Central went on top for good with 35 seconds to play when Porter hit a jumper from the top of the key to make it 85-84. A turnover on Malden's next possession brought Porter to the line where he hit a pair of free throws to extend his team's lead, 87-84, with 18 seconds remaining.
Malden called a timeout to draw up their final possession only to see a Cortez Dobbins 3-pointer come up short and Scott Central grabbed the rebound. Blissett was sent to the line one last time where he hit his second free throw to ice the game, 88-84, with four seconds to play.
"They have three or four kids that can really shoot it and they shot lights out tonight," Staple said of the Green Wave's last possession. "Our main thing was just not to foul and make sure we contested on three's. We were able to come up with a big stop right there. We got the rebound and it just a matter of hitting free throws from there."
As Staple alluded to, both teams had strong nights shooting with Scott Central going 23 of 55 (58 percent) from the floor and 27 of 41 (65.8 percent) inside the arc.
Despite sitting through several minutes of the fourth quarter and parts of the third in foul trouble, Porter finished with a game-high 27 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists.
Porter shot 8 of 12 (66.7 percent) from the floor and was a perfect 6 for 6 inside the arc.
Blissett had 18 points and 10 rebounds which left the senior with a double-double. He went 6 of 9 (66 percent) from the floor. Skylar Lemons had 17 points and Daniel added 15 points.
"You give up 88 points to somebody you're not putting yourself in a good spot," Halford said. "We didn't rebound very well and they did. That's probably the best both teams have shot the ball all year long. The turnovers down the stretch and offensive rebounds for Scott County down the stretch will hurt you."
For Malden, Dobbins scored a team-high 21 points while Shaeen Perkins and Shamaudre Barber had 20 points each. Gordon added 10 points to the cause.
Hurting the Green Wave's cause was a 3 for 8 effort at the charity stripe where the Braves went 19 of 28.
In their last meeting it was Scott Central that had the lead going into the final minutes of the game, barely holding on as Malden outscored them 25-17 in the fourth quarter.
Staple was pleased to see his team on the other side of the equation and still be able to pull out the win.
"We work on the two-minute drill all the time in practice," Staple said. "Just for situations like that. It's crunch time. Malden is an outstanding team. My team was just blessed to pull it out tonight. I couldn't be more happy with the way we played to end it out."
Now at 7-1, Scott Central will visit Notre Dame on Monday at 6 p.m.
| Malden | 23 | 19 | 27 | 15 | -- | 84 |
| Scott Central | 20 | 19 | 26 | 23 | -- | 88 |
MALDEN (84) -- Alejandro Gordon 10, Shaeen Perkins 20, Dremond Robinson 4, Cortez Dobbins 21, Reggie Reed 2, Shamaudre Barber 20, Trevor Ison 7. FG 37, FT 3-8, F 19. (3-pointers: Gordon 1, Perkins 2, Dobbins 1, Barber 2. Fouled out: none.)
SCOTT CENTRAL (88) -- Drake Kesler 2, Jeffery Porter 27, Tre Moore 9, Javante Daniel 15, Matt Blissett 18, Skylar Lemon 17. FG 31, FT 19-28, F 12. (3-pointers: Porter 2, Moore 1, Lemon 1. Fouled out: none.)