Braves receive top seed in Christmas tournament

~ SCC has won the last two Christmas titles and again will be the team to beat

Two-time defending Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament champion Scott County Central has been awarded the top seed for this year's 16-team tournament.

The Braves will begin their quest for a sixth Christmas tournament title overall when they christen action at 9 a.m. Dec. 27 against No. 16 Woodland.

The 66th edition of the tournament will be held four consecutive days with the tournament championship game at 8 p.m. Dec. 30.

"It's definitely an honor to be the No. 1 seed," Scott County Central coach Kenyon Wright said. "But you have to beat everyone to win it, even if you're the 16 seed."

The Braves, who defeated Cape Girardeau Central -- this year's No. 2 seed -- in last year's final, were an unanimous choice for the top seed among the 15 other coaches at Sunday's seed meeting.

Scott County Central, led by 6-foot-9 senior Otto Porter, is the two-time defending Class 1 champions. The Braves are 5-2 after a 76-50 loss Saturday to Chicago-Simeon, the ninth-ranked high school team in the nation by USA Today and the defending Illinois Class 4 champions.

The Braves' other loss was to North Little Rock, a Class 7A team from Arkansas. Scott County has one game remaining before the Christmas tournament as it will play the defending Tennessee Class 2 champions, Bolivar Central, on Saturday.

"I'm a firm believer a tough schedule will make you better," Wright said. "We want to play good teams that challenge the players. We want to get better for the end of the season."

The Braves also will find tough competition in the Christmas tournament.

Cape Girardeau Central, which has won eight Christmas tournament titles, has a 5-1 record after falling to Sikeston on Friday in the championship game of the SEMO Conference tournament. No. 3 Jackson (3-2) and No. 4 Notre Dame (1-2) played in the third-place game of the SEMO Conference tournament. Jackson won 46-40.

Charleston (4-2), which has won a record 15 Christmas tournament titles, has the No. 5 seed.

Oran (4-1), Leopold (4-1) and Advance (4-1) round out the top eight.

The final eight seeds are No. 9 Oak Ridge (4-1), No. 10 Chaffee (3-0), No. 11 Delta (3-2), No. 12 Meadow Heights (2-2), No. 13 Bell City (2-3), No. 14 Scott City (0-4), No. 15 Kelly (0-4) and No. 16 Woodland (0-4).

"It's really well balanced," tournament director Mitch Wood said. "After the fifth seed there are a lot of 4-1 teams. It's going to be up for grabs. There are a lot of good teams."

Scott County Central already has breezed to the title of the Oran tournament.

Chaffee is the only unbeaten team in the field, and only five of the 16 teams have losing records.