Advance ends Scott Central's OIT title run, Malden takes third

ORAN -- In a game Advance led wire-to-wire, the Hornets merely confirmed their belief the Scott County Central Braves never really go away.

The third-seeded Hornets scored the game's first points, built a 19-point lead three minutes into the third quarter and still had to hold on for dear life in posting a 90-89 victory over top-seeded SCC to break the Braves' seven-year reign at the Oran Invitational Tournament on Friday.

The Hornets (3-0) could not breathe easy until after a potential game-tying 3-pointer by Braves all-stater Jeffery Porter rimmed out in the final seconds, with teammate Deantrell Beard putting in the rebound from close range at the buzzer to account for the final score.

"They won this tournament I don't know how many years in a row," said Advance senior guard Brian Whitson, who finished with 20 points. "We knew it was going to be a fight coming in here. and we knew even with a 19-point lead or whatever we had, we weren't going to put them away easy. We knew they were going to go down fighting."

The Braves (3-3) had won the last seven titles, with the Hornets leaving the Oran gym with the second-place trophy five times in that span, including a 24-point loss to SCC in last year's final.

Advance returned four starters from last year's team that reached the Class 1 final four, while Scott County Central's lone returner from its Class 2 state championship team was Porter, who scored a game-high 32 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter.

"Look at all the shots he made down the stretch -- he's a winner," Advance coach Bubba Wheetley said. "He wants it on his shoulders, and he did. They were just a little short tonight. It was a good game, a good one to win."

Whitson sank two of his four 3-pointers on back-to-back possession in the opening three minutes of the game as the Hornets built a double-figure lead in the first quarter before settling for a 21-12 lead after one quarter.

Advance took that nine-point advantage into halftime, leading 38-29, after holding Porter to just four points.

"I wasn't being aggressive the first half," said Porter, who would bust loose for 28 points in the second half. "I should have been more aggressive. I was trying to be too laid back, and I should have went ahead and took care of what I needed to take care of."

Junior Tyus Banks, the only other returner from last year's title team, helped keep the Braves close by scoring 13 of his 27 points in the first half, while junior Deven Blackmon, a transfer from Sikeston, scored eight of his 17.

Beard, also a junior transfer from Sikeston, finished with 10 points.

"They stepped up big for us," Porter said.

The Armanni Vermillion show debuted in the second half before Porter took the limelight.

Vermillion, a 5-foot-11 sophomore who had two points in the first half, almost single-handedly ushered out the Braves' reign at Oran.

Moments after the Braves inbounded the ball to start the second half, Vermillion came up with a steal and scored on a fastbreak basket while being fouled. The three-point play started a 15-6 run over a three-minute span in which he scored all but two of the Hornets' points. Vermillion scored 17 of his team's 31 points in the period.

Vermillion scored on a variety of fastbreak baskets, beating the Braves at their own up-tempo style.

"That's what he loves to do in practice," said senior Austin Ladd, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half. "You can't stop him. He's running up and down."

Vermillion added nine points in the fourth quarter to finish with a team-high 28 points.

"He played great tonight," Ladd said. "He's been playing really good lately and he's stepped up big for his age, and I believe by the time he's a senior, he's going to be a really good player."

Porter also found his game in the third quarter, scoring eight points in the period, which was a prelude to his closing act.

Advance's lead hit 19 points when Austin Mayo converted on a conventional 3-point play for a 56-37 lead with 5:05 left in the third quarter.

With Whitson hitting 3-pointers on Advance's final two possessions of the quarter, the Hornets took a 69-57 lead into the final eight minutes, where they began to succumb to the Braves' full-court pressure, committing seven turnovers after committing seven in the previous three quarters combined.

"I didn't do a very good job. I should have slowed it down," Wheetley said. "With a guy like Porter, Banks, so much speed, they just attacked us all night long."

With Advance leading 74-66 with 5:09 left, Porter assembled a personal 6-0 run on consecutive trips down the floor, with a pair of free throws cutting the lead to two points at 74-72 with 4:30 remaining.

The teams began trading baskets at a breakneck pace, but the momentum and style of play seemed to be in favor of the Braves, with Porter leading the charge as he did in averaging 28 points during the postseason last year.

The lead was cut to 83-82 when Porter made a steal near mid-court while in a press and fed Banks for a basket with just under two minutes remaining. A steal on the ensuing inbound pass under the Hornets' basket gave the Braves a chance to move ahead, but a hurried shot from close range didn't fall.

Advance then re-established a five-point lead on a fastbreak basket and two free throws by Vermillion.

With Advance leading 88-84, Porter again slashed the deficit to a single point when he buried his only 3-point basket of the night with 37 seconds remaining.

Ladd was then fouled by Banks, who fouled out on the play, and he made the first free throw before missing the second and grabbing the rebound.

"That was a big rebound," Wheetley said. "I thought all the kids stepped up. Whitson started out hot, Ladd played well, Dawson Mayo played well. And Armanni really stepped up there in that third quarter. He really carried us. Just a lot of good things I saw, but a lot of things we're going to have to clean up."

After retaining possession on Ladd's rebound, Vermillion was fouled with 12 seconds left and made one of two free throws for a 90-87 lead with 12 seconds left, setting the stage for SCC's final possession.

'I liked our pressure at the end," SCC coach Matt Cline said. "What I'm happy with is they don't panic. I don't know about offense and defense, but they don't panic. They've got some intestinal fortitude. That's what I'm proudest of, and it means I can work with them."

ADVANCE (90) -- Armanni Vermillion 28, Dakota Welty 2, Preston Wuebker 9, Brian Whitson 20, Austin Ladd 20, Dawson Mayo 11. FG33, FT 19-30, F 16 (3-pointers: Wuebker, Whitson 4. Fouled out: none)

SCC (89) -- Porter 32, Deven Blackmon 17, Deantrell Beard 10, Brody Ditti 3, Tyus Banks 27. FG 39, FT 9-15, F 20 (3-pointers: Porter, Blackmon. Fouled out: Ditto, Banks)

Third place

Malden 55, Oran 41

A young team is often an inconsistent team, and the Oran Eagles embodied that Friday night in the third-place game of their own Oran Invitational Tournament.

In a sporadic performance, the fourth-seeded Eagles fell 55-41 to second-seeded Malden.

The roller-coaster ride for a squad that starts a freshman at point guard as well as two sophomores, included falling into a 16-point hole less than three minutes into the second quarter, before cutting the deficit to two points by halftime by scoring the final 12 points of the second quarter.

However, another free fall ensued as the Eagles avoided a scoreless third quarter when junior Max Priggel sank a 25-foot shot at the buzzer. It ended a 17-0 run by Malden that all but sealed their fate.

"We buried ourselves in a hole," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "We've done that the last couple of games and fought back. We used so much energy coming back.

"Tonight we scored just one bucket in the third quarter, and you ain't going to win ballgames doing that. We have a lot of areas to improve upon by the end of the year."

Oran did manage to cut the deficit to 10 points, 47-37, midway through the fourth quarter, but a much taller and experienced Green Wave team answered with a 7-0 burst to snuff any possible drama.

Junior guard Trevor Ison led Malden with 15 points, while 6-foot-5 senior Tyler Ison added 15 points.

Malden, which improved to 2-1 after getting thrashed by third-seeded Advance 81-44 in the semifinals, has a 13-man roster composed of all juniors and seniors with three players listed at 6-3 or taller. Oran has three players listed at 6-0 or taller, topping out with 6-2 senior Blake Schlitt, who comes off the bench.

Despite the mismatch in size, the Green Wave launched five 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the game, hitting on two of them.

"They hit some shots that maybe they didn't hit earlier in the tournament, I'll take my hat off to them, but they're so much bigger than us and more athletic,we had to pack it in, but when you're helping with 5-10 on 6-5 sometimes, it's just not enough," Shoemaker said.

Oran, which needed to shoot from the outside, missed its only two 3-point attempts in the first quarter, which ended with Madlen leading 17-8.

The Green Wave had scored the final five points of the first quarter, and Malden senior Dishon Ross opened the second with his second 3-pointer, and Nikylus Thompson and Reggie Reed followed with inside baskets to open a 24-8 lead with 5 minutes, 56 left in the half.

Oran freshman Jacob Shoemaker ended the 12-0 spurt with a 3-pointer,

Malden led 27-13 on a free throw by Trevor Ison with more than four minutes left in the half, but the Green Wave would not score again in the half.

Senior Garrett Mangles started Oran's 12-0 run with a free throw with 3:55 left in the half. Sophomore Layne Johnson connected on a pair of 3-pointers and Jacob Shoemaker added a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 27-25 at halftime.

After shooting 45 percent from the field and hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers in the first half, Oran shot 27 percent in the second half and hit on just 2-of-9 shots (22 percent) from behind the arc.

"Some of that is on me as a coach," coach Shoemaker said. "You can see where our legs get down we start missing jump shots. We've got to get in better shape."

The Eagles fell to 1-2, with their win coming in the first round of the tournament against Bell City.

"We cant' use that as an excuse, but we're very, very young, and there's a learning process that we've got to get through on that," coach Shoemaker said. "Hopefully we'll learn from these losses and continue to get better."

ORAN (41) -- Cole Priggel 2, Jacob Shoemaker 13, Max Priggel 6, Preston Hahn 2, Layne Johnson 11, Garrison Mangels 7. FG 16, FT 3-7, F 21 (3-pointers: Shoemaker 3, M. Priggel, Johnson 2. Fouled out: C. Priggel)

MALDEN (53) -- Ross Dishon 6, Nikylus Thompson 9, Tyler Ison 15, Reggie Reed 4, Ned Lee 2, Shamaudre Barber 7, Trevor Ison 12. FG 19, FT 19-27, F 14 (3-pointers: Ross 2. Fouled out: none)

Consolation Championship

Kelly 60, Bell City 58

Maurice Davis scored a game-high 25 points as the Hawks rallied in the fourth quarter to prevail in the consolation final.

Fifth-seeded Bell City (1-2) took a 42--37 lead into the fourth quarter but was outscored 23-16 down the stretch.

Skylar Lemons added 15 points for the sixth-seeded Hawks, who improved to 2-1.

Bobby Wright led the Cubs with 20 points, while Cole Nichols added 18.

KELLY (60) -- Ty Householder 8, Levi Alsup 4, Maurice Davis 25, Skylar Lemons 15, Isai Campos 7, Conner Dittlinger 1. FG 22, FT 11-14, F 11 (3-pointers: Householder, Lemons 2, Campos 2. Fouled out: none)

BELL CITY (58) -- Taylor Jackson 6, Kolten Siebert 3, Brandon Abner 5, Cole Nichols 18, Peyton Maddox 7, Bobby Wright 20. FG 24, FT 1-2, F 13 (3-pointers: Jackson 2, Nichols 4, Maddox, Wright 3. Fouled out: Siebert)

All-tournament team
First team
Preston Wuebker, Advance
Tyus Banks, Scott County Central
Austin Ladd, Advance
Jeffery Porter, Scott County Central
Brian Whitson, Advance
Second team
Dawson Mayo, Advance
Skylar Lemons, Kelly
Armanni Vermellion, Advance
Trevor Ison, Malden
Deven Blackmon, Scott County Central