Big second quarter propels Braves to win over Scott City

Fifth-seeded Scott County Central held a four-point lead over No. 12 seed Scott City after one quarter of play in its first-round game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Thursday night.

The Braves (6-1) scored 30 points compared to just 10 for the Rams in the second quarter and went on to win 73-37.

"I thought we were sluggish to be honest, but I guess that's to be expected coming off of a Christmas holiday," SCC coach Frank Staple said. "Anytime you can get a win we're excited about that, but we've got some areas we've got to improve in for tomorrow night."

The Braves (6-1) led 13-9 after the first quarter but went on a 19-4 run over the first 4 minutes, 9 seconds of the second quarter. Five SCC players scored during that stretch and most of the Braves' field field goals were layups.

"What we were doing good was No. 1 we were taking care of the ball," Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "We didn't have many turnovers. And we were patient. We were taking, I thought, good shots.

"In that second quarter we started shooting some outside shots and that allowed long rebounds, and with their athleticism they were able to get it and go. And then we had some turnovers mixed in and you just can't do that against them."

Scott City (4-4) trailed 43-19 at halftime. The Braves and Rams traded baskets through most of the third quarter until SCC went on a 6-0 run over a 35 second span in the final minute of the quarter to extend its lead to 30 points. Two of the Braves' field goals in that span came from steals.

Braden Cox hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 27 at 58-31. Cox scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the third quarter.

"The thing about Scott City is they're a bunch of tough-nosed kids and well-coached," Staple said. "You're going to have days like that, you know, they're not going to come out and roll over, so we just told them to keep playing, keep pushing, keep going."

SCC outscored Scott City 15-6 in the final quarter and advanced to face fourth-seeded Notre Dame at 9 p.m. today at the Show Me Center.

Staple said his team will have to play better to compete with the Bulldogs.

"No. 1 is just intensity across the board," Staple said. "We rebounded horribly tonight, our defense needs to pick up, we need to talk a little bit better. We're going to have to rebound so much better tomorrow night because Notre Dame's such a big team. If we don't do that we could be in trouble."

SCC senior LaRandis Banks scored a game-high 22 points in the victory and was said he looks forward to facing Notre Dame.

"They're a good rebounding team and they like to get up and down just as we do, so we want to come out focused and we want to come out with the win," Banks said.

The Rams play No. 13 Kelly at 9 a.m. today at the Show Me Center.

"It's a short turnaround," Dannenmueller said. "That's what I told them. That's the great thing about basketball. It's not like football, you don't have a whole week to wait. You can make good on a lot of the stuff we did wrong today and I told them, 'Hey, at midnight the brain goes clean. Let's worry about Kelly tomorrow.'"

Scott County Central 73, Scott City 37

Scott City 9 10 12 6 -- 37

SCC 13 30 15 15 -- 73

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (73) -- Drake Kesler 2, Juwan Owens 16, Trevion Moore 5, Larandis Banks 22, Jeffery Porter 4, Kendall Blissett 4, Javonta Daniel 6, Cameron Blissett 8, Matthew Blissett 6. FG 34, FT 3-7, F 19. (3-pointers: Moore 1, Banks 1. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT CITY (37) -- Trent Pobst 10, Drew Short 2, Isiah Berry 4, Brock Uelsmann 2, Braden Cox 17, Tyler Rogers 2. FG 14, FT 7-17, F8. (3-pointers: Pobst 1, Cox 1. Fouled out: none)