Late run lifts SCC past Eagles

Braves hold on for 75-69 win over NMCC

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NEW MADRID -- Scott County Central senior Trey Johnson found himself wide open under the rim. Senior teammate Bobby Hatchett found him as well.

With 1:41 left in the fourth quarter and the Braves leading by three points, Hatchett zipped a pass from behind the 3-point line right into the hands of Johnson who put it up for two.

"We knew that we really had to score," Johnson said. "We were trying to find the open man as quick as we could. We just had to score."

Johnson scored again just 30 seconds later to give the Braves a 70-63 lead with just over a minute to go as Scott County Central was able to hang on and defeat the New Madrid County Central Eagles 75-69.

"Trey did a good job of stepping up offensively for us there," Scott Central head coach Kenyon Wright said.

Johnson scored five of his overall nine points in the fourth quarter all within a minute and five seconds. He would go on to hit one-of-two free throws with 36.4 left to give the Braves a 71-66 advantage. Four combined free throws from Hatchett in the last 14 seconds would seal the game at 75-69.

What turned out to be a nail-biter down the stretch didn't start out that way for the Eagles. Scott Central (17-2) got out to an 18-0 run to start the first quarter. Five different Braves scored during the run with Otto Porter leading with seven points.

Although it looked to be in the hands of the Braves from the early going, NMCC finally was able to stop the bleeding at the 3:48 mark and got a huge lift from senior Kony Ealy.

Ealy scored 11 consecutive points to get the Eagles back into contention.

"We came out and played like we needed to at the start," Wright said. "We folded up the tent after that. We stopped rebounding. Absolutely just stopped rebounding. I hate to say this but to be a team from Scott County Central we're the worst rebounding team I've ever seen."

Ealy finished his personal 11-0 run off with a thunderous one-handed dunk. NMCC would be down only by three points at the end of the first quarter.

"He got us back in it," Day said about Ealy. "But, you can't spot a good team that kind of run. That takes a lot of energy to try and come back. We just came out flat and nervous and once we figured out that we could play with these guys we were right there with them."

The Eagles would eventually grab their first lead of the night after G'Darius Stevenson knocked down two free throws to give NMCC a 24-23 advantage. Scott Central would go into halftime with a 40-38 lead.

NMCC (11-8) held their biggest lead of the night at the end of the third quarter led by six points from junior William Bledsoe. The Eagles outscored Scott Central 19-14 to hold a 57-54 lead at the end of the third quarter. That would be the last lead the Eagles would hold as Porter scored back-to-back buckets to open the fourth quarter and give the Braves a 58-57 lead that NMCC would never overcome again.

"It's hard to fight uphill against good caliber teams," said Day. "It was just bad communication. That's just the mental phase of it. We're not putting the whole game together."

Porter led all scorers with 27 points and 13 rebounds while Hatchett added a hefty 24.

Ealy led the Eagles with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Dontre Jenkins added 19 while Bledsoe chipped in 12.

"We did a lot of things bad tonight, a lot of things bad," Wright said. "But still won. That's about as lucky as you can be."

Scott County Central 21 19 14 21 -- 75

NMCC 18 20 19 12 -- 69

SCOTT CENTRAL (75) -- Bobby Hatchett 24, Trey Johnson 9, Otto Porter 27, Dominique Porter 3, Bryan Freed 7, Calvin Porter 3, John Rhoden 2. FG 28 FT 16-24 F 19. (3-pointers: Hatchett 2, Freed 1. Fouled out: Porter.)

NMCC (69) -- Dontre Jenkins 19, Lamonte Nelson 4, Keith Holmes 5, Jameria Jones 2, G'Darius Stevenson 6, Kony Ealy 21, William Bledsoe 12. FG 24 FT 18-23 F 19. (3-pointers: Jenkins 2, Holmes 1. Fouled out: none.)

Junior Varsity

NMCC 75, Scott County Central 71

The New Madrid County Central junior varsity Eagles needed overtime to do it but they defeated the Scott County Central Braves 75-71.

After a tie game at the end of regulation read 63-63, NMCC outscored the Braves 12-8 to come away with the win.

CJ Chism led the Eagles with 28 points while Armando Thatch added 12. Jalen Porter led Scott Central with 29 and Lamarcus Steward had 25.