February 19, 2016
SCC prevails in sluggish district primer against NMCC
sports@standard-democrat.com NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Thursday's game between Scott County Central and New Madrid County Central has traditionally been played on the backend of the schedule in hopes of drawing out good performances right before they dive in to district play...
By Chris Pobst ~ Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Thursday's game between Scott County Central and New Madrid County Central has traditionally been played on the backend of the schedule in hopes of drawing out good performances right before they dive in to district play.
The Braves believed they gave up too many points in the second half and NMCC fell into its same pattern that's led to a dismal stretch to end the regular season.
If either team was looking for a catalyst to jumpstart them into the postseason, Scott County Central's sluggish 74-68 win over the Eagles might not be the springboard it was intended to be.
"I was proud that we didn't panic when the game got close, but we gave up 19 points in the first half and then nearly 50 in the second," Scott Central coach Matt Cline said. "If we would have put two halves like that together we'd be looking at 100 points."
Scott County Central (18-8) got 27 points and eight rebounds from senior Jeffery Porter who seemed to always have an answer when NMCC crept closer. Keyth Blissett added 15 points and Garry Wilkerson provided a spark in the fourth finishing with 11.
NMCC was paced by Garrison Keene's 22 points behind an 8 for 14 shooting night that included five 3-pointers. Javarcus Word added 14 and Chris Farr chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Eagles fell into an early hole, which has become an unpleasant norm for them during most of this season. They finished the first half 8 for 26 (30 percent) shooting from the floor.
"That's how we've been all season," NMCC coach Travis Day said. "I can't fault the effort. We just don't play smart. We don't make the right decision sometimes that puts us in the hole... It was like there was a lid over the basket, but at the same time it was us settling for jump shots. Every time we didn't hit a shot or had a bad shot, they made us pay for it."
NMCC enters the Class 3, District 1 tournament on Saturday with not much momentum after losing 11 of their last 12 games. They were hoping to use this game against Scott Central, a game they lost last season by a controversial buzzer-beater, as a jumpstart to the postseason.
"I know they're going to be tough at this time of the year," Day said about playing SCC two days before districts. "They're going to shoot it well, handle the ball well. They have every phase that you're going to see at districts to kind of give ourselves something to judge on going into districts."
The Eagles (8-16) trailed 28-19 at halftime but put together its best quarter in the third when Keene took over. The senior shot 5 of 8 from the field leading to 13 points.
Back to back buckets from Keene sparked an 8-0 run that pulled the Eagles to within three after falling behind by a game-high 11 just minutes before.
Twice Keene cut SCC's lead to three until a basket by Jaurous Hanes, who finished with eight points, made it a 44-42 game with 1:03 left to go in the third.
"His last couple games he's been shooting better," Day said about Keene. "He's done what we ask him to do. He's playing hard for us and we just have to get the others with him. Right now, we have one guy with a good night and everybody else is off. Hopefully we can get everybody clicking at the same time and see what happens for us."
Though the Eagles trailed by its lowest margin since two minutes into the first quarter, the Braves answered with a five-straight. It was a traditional 3-point play from Word that made up with 49-45 SCC advantage heading into the fourth.
After holding the Eagles to 19 points in the first half, SCC allowed 26 in the third quarter and another 23 in the fourth.
"The thing I was disappointed in was we put three good quarters of defense together against Scott City the other night and tonight we played two good quarters and then kind of laid back defensively," Cline said. "We need to get out and cover shooters."
Scott Central opened the final frame with a 8-2 run to get away from NMCC's surge.
An NBA-range three from Word sliced into NMCC's deficit by five, but Porter answered with a three of his own on the ensuing possession continuing his trend of never allowing the Eagles to make a full comeback.
"Jeff did a good job when we needed it," Cline said. "We tried to get it to him towards the end of the game and we did a decent job of securing the ball. I thought Deven did a good job securing it. Outside of a couple ill-advised shots we took there in the fourth I thought we kind of play smart knowing we were playing with a lead."
Another Keene three made it 65-60 with 2:11 left to play but Beard found his way past a defender to quickly score after. An NMCC turnover led to an easy basket when the Braves found Wilkerson, who scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, under the basket for the lay in and a comfy nine-point lead.
A last ditch effort by NMCC was provided with Word buried his second three and Farr hit 1 of 2 free throws to pull his team within three, 71-68, with 37.8 seconds to go. But Porter found his way to the basket on the next trip up essentially sealing the victory.
"You want to win every one of them and traditionally New Madrid is a tough team," Cline said. "Coach Day does a great job with them. You wanted to get in here, get a 'W' and get out healthy."
The Braves led wire to wire and never allowed another tie after the opening bucket. Though SCC led 14-11 after the first period, they had a tough go at it to get started. They missed their first five shots but rebounded quickly to finish the quarter 7 of 14. Deantrell Beard scored six of his nine points in the opening frame as did Porter.
Scott Central finished the game shooting 28 of 55. The Eagles were 25 for 66 and were outrebounded 33-30.
NMCC shot 4 for 10 and committed five turnovers to open the game.
"You hope the mindset right now is it's a whole new season," Day said. "Forget everything that's happened to us, lets erase all that and go play. We're hoping for that. We'll push that into them. We're 0-0 right now."
SCC started the year 6-6 but since then have won 12 of their last 14 games. They enter the Class 2, District 1 tournament in Campbell, Mo., as the three-seed behind top-seeded Bloomfield and South Pemiscot. It's just the second time in 10 seasons the Braves enter a district tournament as the third seed as they hunt for their 13th straight title starting on Monday.
"They know they think they've been counted out," Cline said. "We play a pretty good schedule and we had a feeling that might hurt us come seeding time. But, hey, we're an underdog. We don't get to be in that position very often."
SCC 14 14 21 25 -- 74
NMCC 11 8 26 23 -- 68
SCOTT CENTRAL (74) -- Tyus Banks 2, Deven Blackman 6, Deatrell Beard 9, Garry Wilkerson 11, Gerald Sanders 4, Jeffery Porter 27, Keyth Blissett 15. FG 28 FT 15-22 F 14. (3-pointers: Wilkerson 1, Sanders 1, Porter 1. Fouled out: none.)
NEW MADRID COUNTY CENTRAL (68) -- Palmer Campbell 5, Javarcus Word 14, Chris Farr 13, Garrison Keene 22, Jamal Jackson 4, Deon Jenkins 2, Jaurous Hanes 8. FG 25 FT 10-14 F 19. (3-pointers: Campbell 1, Word 2, Keene 5. Fouled out: Tyler Sprouse.)
JV -- NMCC won 52-48
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