AREA'S TOP GUNS EARN DISTINCTION IN 1A-2A

Scott City's Jon Beck, Marquand's Dusty Stephens and Scott County Central's John Fort, a trio of high-scoring seniors, have been named to the Missouri Sportswriters and Broadcasters all-state teams for Class 1A-2A schools.

The Class 3A-4A list will be released on Thursday.

Beck, a 5-foot-11 guard who will be playing Division I basketball at Arkansas State, averaged 25.3 points per game and repeated on the Class 2A first team. He made 54 percent of his field goals and 44 percent of his 3-pointers. The team leader hoisted his team to a 26-3 record but was injured and ineffective in Scott City's district final loss to Kelly. Beck's highest scoring total this past season was 44 against Kelly in an overtime win.

"He's a tremendous defender, he can take people off the dribble, he's a tremendous 3-point shooter and he was a leader for us," Scott City coach Derek McCord said. "He leads by diving for loose balls and taking charges. The most important thing is that he's a great kid. It's players like Jon that make coaching a great profession."

(Scott City, which was ranked No. 2 in the state for a good part of the season, ended up ninth in the final poll.

Stephens was a Class 1A first-team selection after being named second team as a junior. The 6-3 forward averaged 26.8 points per contest his senior season. He had a 47-point game against Oak Ridge late in the season and on three different occasions pulled down 21 rebounds.

"Dusty is an outstanding high school basketball player across the board," said Marquand assistant coach Ron Durso. "He's always around the basket. He always took it to the basket."

Fort, a versatile 5-10 guard, averaged 24 points and nine rebounds per game in leading the Class 1A Braves to an 18-10 record. Fort will be playing basketball at Moberly Area Community College.

"He had a great season," Scott County coach Todd Porter said. "He's a tremendous player and a great kid and he's got a great future ahead of him. He had about a seven-game stretch where he had a bad ankle. Up until then, he was averaging 30 points a game. He had games where he'd make seven or eight 3-pointers and he always drew the toughest defensive assignment."

Corey Gipson of Richland, was also named to the Class 1A first team.

In 2A, Portageville's William Durden was named to the first team and Bismarck's Abe AuBuchon was named to the second team.

Calley Yount of Caledonia Valley was a second-team selection on the girls' all-state team.

A complete 1A-2A all-state listing appears in "Scoreboard.")