Caleb Johnson, Scott County Central

Scott County Central senior Caleb Johnson came up big Friday night in Charleston.

The 6-foot-1 post player came in a little undersized against Charleston's forwards, but he got the job done with a game-high 26 points in the Class 1 Braves' 75-70 victory against the defending Class 3 state champion.

Johnson had 13 rebounds as Scott County Central outrebounded the Bluejays 34-23.

"They kind of surprised us tonight and beat us on the boards," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said.

"The plan was to try to get me going down low so I could get my teammates going," Johnson said. "They had two 6-5 guys, and with me being the tallest kid on our team, I knew I had to go to the boards."

Johnson had 14 of his points in the first half as the Braves built a 37-24 lead on the hosts.

It was his second double-figure performance of the week, no surprise since Johnson has often been among the Braves' leading scorers. He left one game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament earlier this year with an ankle injury and sat out the fifth-place game.

But he showed he is back last week, chipping in 19 points as the Braves racked up a 97-46 win against East Prairie on Jan. 8 preceding the Charleston game.