Christmas Tournament: Charleston bounces back for third place against SCC

Charleston was looking for a bounce-back game after a disappointing performance against Central in the semifinals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Saturday night.

They found it against Scott County Central.

The Bluejays (7-4) overcame a sloppy start to capture third place with an 81-74 victory Monday night at the Show Me Center.

"They were ready to play, and we weren't responding," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "It was kind of like Saturday night. We had to start getting up. We had to speed the tempo up so we could get into the game. Once we sped the tempo up, we kind of got into our rhythm."

The Braves (7-3) controlled the opening eight minutes.

SCC bolted to a 10-4 lead just under three minutes into the game, and the Braves held a 19-15 advantage after one period.

"We came out ready, and then for some reason the lights just went off, and we just kind of never recovered," SCC coach Frank Staple said. "That was embarrassing. We've got to improve on that. We've got a couple days off, but that was one of the worst efforts I've ever seen."

It took awhile, but the Bluejays started to turn the tables midway through the second.

Charleston trailed 26-23 with just under six minutes left in the half but quickly took the lead.

Demontrail Clark buried a 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 6 seconds left in the second to put Charleston up 28-27.

It was a lead the Bluejays never relinquished.

Charleston started to turn up its pressure in the second quarter and took advantage of several turnovers by the Braves.

"Our defense is our offense," Farmer said. "If we don't play hard defensively, especially against Scott County -- they have a real good team, they have a very good team. My guys have to understand that every night we have to go out and play hard. In order to beat anybody, we're going to have to play hard."

Charleston head coach Danny W. Farmer watches the action from the side line in the fourth quarter, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013, during the Bluejays' Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament third place game against the Scott County Central Braves at the Show Me Center. Charleston won 81-74. (Laura Simon)

Charleston continued to build on its lead, thanks in large part to Delfincko and Robert Bogan.

Delfincko Bogan consistently beat his man off the dribble and scored buckets in the lane, while Robert Bogan was a force down low.

"One thing we're really trying to do this year is just guard," Staple said. "A lot of that is just playing as a team. You know Delfincko is a good player. He can shoot, he can drive, but there were so many times he drove to the hole and nobody was there to help."

Charleston built its lead to 38-31 at the half on a Robert Bogan basket with 30 seconds remaining.

Robert Bogan chipped in 14 points, a welcome sight for Farmer.

"Robert is a great option right now," Farmer said. "If we hadn't of had that tonight, we wouldn't have beat them. We have to have everybody stepping up and playing."

Delfincko Bogan led the charge in the second half for the Bluejays with 17 of his game-high 27 points.

SCC managed to cut the lead to 42-39 early in the second half on back-to-back Larandis Banks baskets, but Charleston used an 8-0 run to gain a sizable 50-39 advantage.

The Braves never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

"You're looking at two different teams right now," Staple said. "Charleston has that mindset where they got a lot of 50-50 balls, and we barely got any. They got a lot of crucial rebounds; we made a lot of weak passes. You know, you just can't do that against good teams. Our guys have to understand that. We're just not at that point yet. I believe we'll get there, but we're just not at that point yet."

The Bluejays did a good job limiting the SCC guard Jeffery Porter.

Banks managed 27 points, but Porter finished with just 11 and Juwan Owens was held to eight.

"We made Scott Central start making some decisions," Farmer said. "I know they wanted us, when Porter took the ball, they wanted us to come at him so they could dump it inside. We wanted to take away the easy buckets, then once they get tired, let them shoot a 3."

Charleston 15 23 25 18 -- 81

Scott County 19 12 18 25 -- 74

CHARLESTON (81) -- Kelvondre Moore 7, Robert Bogan 14, Delfincko Bogan 27, Demontrail Clark 3, Shandor Webster 10, Mike Kellum 10, Timontrell Horton 10. FG 30, FT 11-17, F 21. (3-pointers: Moore 1, Clark 1, Kellum 2. Fouled out: Horton)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (74) -- Juwan Owens 8, Larandis Banks 27, Jeffery Porter 11, Kendall Blissett 2, Javonta Daniel 18, Matthew Blissett 8FG 27, FT 15-29, F 16. (3-pointers: Banks 1. Fouled out: Owens)