Christmas tournament: Chaffee dumps rival Scott City

Chaffee coach Josh Govreau didn't prepare much of a pregame speech before his team's consolation bracket semifinal at the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament Wednesday.

"We knew we were going to come out with intensity playing Scott City -- a chance to go to that fourth day playing your rival at the Show Me Center," Govreau said. "I told them before the game I shouldn't have to come in here and say anything to get you motivated, and I didn't."

Alex Crowe personified the Red Devils' intensity. The junior let out emotional screams as he sunk one 3-pointer after another to help his team build a big first-half lead before calmly helping to seal Chaffee's 49-45 victory with back-to-back 3s in the closing minutes.

"It means a lot," Crowe said of eliminating the Rams from the tournament. "Like playing Oak Ridge or something isn't as big as Scott City, especially to go to the championship."

Chaffee will meet Oak Ridge in the consolation championship at 3:30 p.m. today at the Show Me Center.

Crowe finished the game with 23 points, including six 3-pointers.

"If he sees the rim and it goes up, I expect it's going in," Govreau said.

Crowe scored 12 points in a pivotal 14-2 run by the Red Devils that carried over from the first to second quarter.

"You could just tell how we came out in the beginning," Crowe said. "We just came out and started dominating. It just felt good."

Crowe paused.

"We were terrible in the third quarter."

Scott City chipped away at the Red Devils' 17-point halftime lead for most of the second half.

"I think for us, it's learning how to play with a lead," Govreau said. "Our first loss against Bloomfield earlier in the year, we were up by 11 in the third quarter and we just haven't got used to playing with a lead."

The Rams, who were paced by Zach Cotner's 23 points, outscored Chaffee 31-18 in the second half.

"When they threw the press on, that's really when we lost our composure," Govreau said. "They did it a couple times in the first half and we were patient and broke the press and had no problem with it. When they came out in that second half, we just kind of lost our composure."

Cotner's score with 5:20 left in the game pulled the Rams within five points, but Crowe answered with a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions, and Scott City did not get that close again until going on an 11-0 run to end the game.

"One of the things we try to focus on is when teams go on runs to keep it to four or five points and don't let it get to six, eight, 10, and they did that," Govreau said. "We talked about how we've got to limit their run and he came out and gave us that six-point run with two 3s. That was huge for us, got our momentum going a little bit and we were able to hang on that last minute."

Chaffee will play on the tournament's closing night for the first time since an appearance in the consolation championship in 2000.

"For these kids, it's huge," Govreau said. "We've come in here the last couple years and been two and out. That was our goal -- obviously we wanted to win that first-round game against Leopold -- but once we knew we were in the losers bracket, we saw a good chance to get to that fourth day."

For Crowe, who called Wednesday's experience "exhilarating," it is a sign of how far his team has come.

"We haven't done it in a long time," he said. "It means a lot for us as a team. It shows how much we've improved over the last couple years."

Scott City 10 4 16 15 -- 45

Chaffee 15 16 8 10 -- 49

SCOTT CITY (45) -- Landon Robert 11, Jesse Sanders 5, Justin Modglin 3, Zach Cotner 23, Ryan Brock 3. FG 18, FT 6-7, F 16. (3-pointers: Robert 1, Sanders 1, Modglin 1. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (49) -- Alex Crowe 23, Michael Rutherford 8, Jordan Yahn 10, Alex Davie 2, Trevor Cannon 1, Andrew Terhune 5. FG 17, FT 9-14, F 10. (3-pointers: Crowe 6. Fouled out: none)