Scott Central takes home another Scott-Mississippi Conference title

Saturday, January 24, 2015
Scott Central's Jeffery Porter defends a shot from Oran's Jacob Priggel Friday night in the Scott-Mississippi Conference championship game at Oran High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

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ORAN -- For the last decade the Scott County Central Braves have dominated the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament with Oran being the only team to get in the way of an eight-year reign.

With the two teams once again in the conference title game Friday night, the Eagles attempted a comeback in the final minutes that had the Braves clinging tight to a single-digit lead.

In the end, however, it was Scott Central coming away with their eighth title in the last nine years as they held on for a 75-64 final.

"We're down six points and we end up getting down by 17," Oran head coach Joe Shoemaker said of the second half. "Give Scott Central credit, they came out fired up. I think they won the second and third quarters. We talk about keeping it simple and trying to win quarters and we lost those two."

After never trailing by more than nine points in the first half the Eagles found themselves in risk of getting blown out when the Braves mounted a 12-0 run in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Junior Jeffery Porter ignited the streak with three-straight baskets while a Javonta Daniel jumper capped the run by putting Scott Central up 49-32 with 4:35 left in the quarter.

Oran burned through two timeouts as they tried to right the ship and slowly worked its way back within 12 points to start the fourth. Oran's deficit continued to shrink down into the single digits, but its comeback would take a hit when senior Hunter Schlosser fouled out with 4:35 to play.

Oran got to within eight points with 2:10 to play on a play that also left Porter drawing his fifth and final foul. Unfortunately for the Eagles, luck ran out soon after as the Braves hit just enough free throws and collected several key defensive rebounds on missed Oran threes.

Scott Central closed out the game hitting 10 of 14 free throws in the final two minutes while the Eagles came up empty on three of their final five possessions while trying to connect on 3-pointers.

Each one of those missed attempts was followed by a Brave rebound that allowed them to retain a nine-point edge with 28 seconds to play.

"Our kids battled back and cut it to eight in the fourth," Shoemaker said. "It hurt Hunter getting his fifth foul there and fouled out. It kind of takes a lot of what we do away, but the kids coming off the bench did a great job of battling for us."

Schlosser finished with 14 points while senior Jacob Priggel led Oran with 24 points. Garrison Mangels added 13 points to the cause.

Typically sharp at the free throw line, the Eagles were 13 of 19 (68 percent) from the stripe with all six misses coming in the second half.

"Defensively we wanted to shut Schlosser and Jacob down and make the other players shoot a little bit more," Porter said. "We did a pretty good job of that."

Porter led all comers with a game-high 25 points including a 12-point third quarter.

Porter shot 7 of 12 (58 percent) from the floor while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out eight assists. He also blocked a pair of shots.

Matt Blissett was second on the team with 15 points, hitting all five of his shots on the night and securing five rebounds. Daniels and Tre Moore contributed 12 and 10 points respectively.

"We were focusing in on defense today," Porter said. "We wanted to get out and get running. Our defense leads to our offense."

As a team Scott Central went 25 of 45 (56 percent) from the floor, including a 24 of 35 (69 percent) effort from inside the arc. Oran finished the night shooting 23 of 46 (50 percent) overall and 18 of 30 (60 percent) from two-point range.

Oran won the rebound battle 23-21, but committed 13 turnovers to the Braves' eight.

"We had a couple silly turnovers and they ran out on us," Shoemaker said. "We gave up some easy looks and layups and a couple offensive rebounds. We talked and that's something we can't do to this crew. We can't give them easy baskets. They're too good for that. We fell into their tempo and missed a couple shots. That doesn't help."

Scott Central14212119--75
Oran15141520--65

SCOTT CENTRAL (75) -- Drake Kesler 2, Tyus Banks 9, Jeffery Porter 25, Tre Moore 10, Javonta Daniel 12, Matt Blissett 15, Skylar Lemons 2. FG 25, FT 24-33, F 21. (3-pointers: Porter 1. Fouled out: Porter)

ORAN (65) -- Thomas Trankler 3, Max Priggel 5, Jacob Priggel 24, Hunter Schlosser 14, Jason Bennett 2, Garrison Mangels 13. FG 22, FT 13-19, F 24. (3-pointers: Max Priggel 1, Jacob Priggel 2, Schlosser 1. Fouled out: Trankler, Max Priggel, Schlosser.)

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