Another championship for Scott County Central

The daffodils are popping up. That must mean it's state championship time for the Scott County Central Braves.

Scott Country Central's boys basketball team finished its season with another state title, the program's state-record 18th state championship.

The Braves won the title game against Mid-Buchanan 53-48. Javonta Daniel led the scoring attack with 23 points, followed by Jeffery Porter (17) and Tre Moore (13).

This year, the Braves won the state title in Class 2, only their second title in that class. Most of their championships came at the smaller Class 1 level. The team did it a different way than previous teams, in a half-court game rather than a full-court press. They had just seven players on the varsity roster, meaning the players had to be in great shape and play with discipline to reach Columbia.

"We basically had seven guys all year, and it's just a testament to them for hanging in there through all the running and getting yelled at. Just hanging in there and maintaining," Scott County Central coach Frank Staple told Derek James of the Sikeston Standard Democrat. "It was a tough road from districts on. Whether you win by one or 40, good teams find a way to win, and I think these guys are a really good team, and they're state champs and I'm proud of them."

Congratulations to Scott County Central on another fantastic season.

Other area teams also competed at the state level.

After a semifinal loss, the Advance boys came back to capture third place in Class 1. Led in scoring by Dalton Wilson with 16 points, the team beat Leeton 69-53.

The Notre Dame boys basketball team is still in the hunt among Class 4 teams. The Bulldogs will play Hillcrest at 3:30 today at Mizzou Arena in a semifinal.

There was a story in Tuesday's Southeast Missourian by reporter Ben Striker about first-year head coach Paul Unterreiner.

Unterreiner is not a new face to Notre Dame sports. A former player, assistant coach for girls and boys teams and now head coach of the boys, Unterreiner had opportunities to learn from others and develop his own style.

He told the newspaper that the team struggled to gel at the beginning of the season, but the team's motto went a long way to helping them come together.

Senior Dean Crippen said that motto is: "God first, others second and I am third."

Congratulations to all the area teams that advanced to Columbia.

Speaking of stellar performances, the next round of Semoball Awards finalists -- including boys and girls basketball -- will be unveiled April 11 at Harry Blackwell Dodge in Dexter. The show will be broadcast live on SEMO ESPN Radio. We encourage you to attend or listen to the live show. The Semoball Awards is a first-class awards show that honors the top athletes in all of Southeast Missouri. The event will be held in July.

Keep following our basketball coverage in the Southeast Missourian and online at semoball.com, where you will find game stories, features, columns and photo galleries.