Scott Central, Scott City to play for title

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHAFFEE -- Scoring a game-high 25-points in the fourth quarter on Thursday, the Scott Central Braves pulled away from the Oran Eagles for a 79-65 win in the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament semifinals.

"Oran had a good plan," Scott Central coach Kenyon Wright said. "They spread us out a little bit and that was fine. We went out there and switched our defense up a little bit (going into the fourth).

"Our kids stepped it up and in the fourth quarter and it kind of wore on them a little bit. That kind of helped."

Holding a four-point lead going into the fourth, the Braves saw the Eagles to close to within one when Kody Moore hit a quick 3-pointer to start the final frame.

After Oran missed a pair of free throws that would have given them the lead with 6:50 to play, the Braves started to pull away with an 8-1 run that featured three straight 3-point plays.

Larandis Banks and Jatlen Peet both connect from behind the arc during the run while while Dominique Porter was fouled on his way to the basket.

Dominique Porter hit both the basket and ensuing free throw before capping Scott Central's run with another bucket to g up 65-54 with 3:28 to play.

A pair of free throws soon after closed Oran back to within nine before another push by the Braves had them out front 72-60 with a minute to play.

Sealing their trip back to the final, Scott Central hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to close out the win.

"There was a little bit of panic on our part," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "Plus they really turned their defense up and really got after us. We forced a couple of bad shots we shouldn't have.

"We should have been a little more patient, but our effort was there so I can't fault our kids on that."

Leading Scott Central on the night Dominique Porter had 26, scoring 13 in the fourth quarter alone. Second on the team was Banks, who finished with 22 points while hitting four of the team's 10 3-pointers on the night.

Hitting a game-high five 3-pointers, Jaylen Porter had 17 points.

On Jaylen Porter's success behind the arc, Wright said, "He can shoot the ball. He's had games on the 'B' team where he's had five or six three's before too, but I've had him play inside a little bit.

"He's a decent post player too, but I kind of switched him and Dominique a little bit on the offense and that gave him some opportunities."

Scott Central fourth player to reach double-digits was LaMarcus Steward with 12.

For Oran Seth Ressel had a team-high 23 points, including four of his team's seven 3-pointers on the game. Moore and Alkex Heuring had 16 and 12 points respectively.

Oran 16 12 22 15 - 65

Scott Central 20 12 22 25 - 79

ORAN (65) -- Kody Moore 16, Seth Ressel 23, Blake Carlyle 4, Alex Heuring 12, Blake Henson 6, Adam Schaefer 4. FG 22, FT 14-23, F 17. (3-pointers: Moore 3, Ressel 4. Fouled out: Heuring.)

SCOTT CENTRAL (79) -- Larandis Banks 22, Jaylen Porter 17, Antwoine Johnson 2, Dominique Porter 26, LaMarcus Steward 12. FG 30, FT 9-11, F 20. (3-pointers: Banks 4, Jaylen Porter 5, Dominique Porter 1. Fouled out: Steward.)

Scott City 63, Chaffee 49

Despite watching their leading scorer, Zach Cotner, sit on the bench nearly half the game in foul trouble, Scott City was able to ride a dominant start against cross-town rival Chaffee to a 63-49 win in the semifinals.

"We started well and then I thought we kind of hung on there for awhile without Zach," Rams coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "When he came back (in the fourth) it really gave us a shot of life. I'm so proud of our team, we just kept fighting."

Picking up a pair of fouls in the first quarter as Scott City opened the game on a 15-2 run, Cotner went on to sit out most of the second and all of the third with the Rams taking a 27-17 lead into the break.

Coming back out in the fourth, Cotner scored 12 of his game-high 24 points in the frame to help protect the Rams double-digit lead.

Starting the fourth up 40-27, Scott City watched the Red Devils open up an 8-2 run midway through the frame to close to back to within eight, at 50-42, with 2:41 to play.

It wasn't long after, however, that Cotner scored six of the Rams' next seven points to open up a run that put Scott City ahead by 12, at 57-45 going into the final minute of regulation.

"We came out with a total lack of focus," Chaffee coach Josh Govreau said. "We talked about a game plan. We have to be patient on offense if they're going to come out and guard and we can't take contested, bad shots on offense.

"We have to make them guard in the first quarter. We didn't take on shot and you're not going to beat a team like that."

Behind Cotner's 24 points, Jesse Sanders had 15 points, followed by Ryan Brock with 11.

Leading the Red Devils Alex Crowe had 19 points while Jordan Yahn and Alex Davie had 15 and seven respectively.

In junior varsity play, Oran defeated East Prairie 56-44 and Chaffee topped Scott Central 35-27. Oran and Chaffee will battle for the junior varsity title at 7 p.m. tonight before Scott Central and Scott City play at 8:30 p.m. for the varsity championship.

Chaffee 2 15 10 22 - 49

Scott City 14 13 13 23 - 63

CHAFFEE (49) -- Alex Crowe 19, Peyton Montgomery 1, Zach Dannenmueller 2, Cody Johnson 3, Layton Tenkhoff 2, Jordan Yahn 15, Alex Davie 7. FG 17, FT 12-16, F 23. (3-pointers: Crowe 2, Johnson 1. Fouled out: Tenkhoff.)

SCOTT CITY (63) -- Logan Henson 2, Landon Robert 8, Jesse Sanders 15, Jonathan McFall 3, Zach Cotner 24, Ryan Brock 11. FG 22, FT 18-25, F 18. (3-pointers: Sanders 1. Fouled out: none.)