Happy days return to SCC with third-place win

COLUMBIA -- The Scott County Central boys basketball team left Mizzou Arena with a win Friday afternoon.

It wasn't quite the one they wanted.

But in the program's first final four appearance since a 1994 state runner-up finish, the third-place finish in Class 1 would have to suffice.

An 83-58 thrashing of Fair Play left the Braves with a 28-3 record and left even senior D.D. Gillespie with a smile on his face as he completed three years at Scott County by putting the program back on the state map.

"I'm pleased with the way things turned out at Scott County," Gillespie said. "The first two years, we didn't win a lot. Well, last year we won a lot, but we didn't get to state. But we just had to try to work harder and harder to make it to state."

Gillespie, who transferred from Bell City to Scott County following a freshman season in which he was a key player in the Cubs' fourth-place state finish, had to endure the last two years as Bell City eliminated the Braves in the state sectional round. After a blowout loss his sophomore year, it was a heartbreaker last year. And once Gillespie got past the Cubs and back to state, he missed two free throws with 1.5 seconds left in Thursday's semifinal loss to Jefferson, the team that had denied Bell City in the title game the last two years.

"I needed a lot of time after that," said Gillespie, who did not talk to the media Thursday. "When we got back to the hotel, I took a shower and just laid down for the rest of the night."

Jefferson dominates

To demonstrate Thursday was the unofficial championship game, Jefferson dominated Glasgow 59-30 in the Class 1 final later Friday afternoon.

Gillespie bounced back Friday by scoring the game's first five points, including an opening 3-pointer to put the Braves ahead for good.

He finished with 21 points, tying freshman Otto Porter for the team scoring lead. Junior Drew Thomas added 16.

Scott County's other senior starter, Caleb Johnson, added eight points.

Johnson said Gillespie, his cousin, talked often during the past two years about the state tournament atmosphere and the work required to get to state.

"Everything he said was true," Johnson said.

"He worked hard in practice," Johnson added. "He's one of the hardest working guys on the team, and he set the tone for us."

Gillespie added six assists and four steals Friday.

He made a steal and fed Bobby Hatchett for a basket that capped a stretch of four unanswered Braves baskets in 43 seconds and made the score 20-6 late in the first period.

Gillespie's three-point play midway through the second period after he beat his man off the dribble ended a 12-2 run to open the quarter and made the score 34-12.

"They kind of did what we expected," Fair Play coach Lynn Long said. "They just did it too well. We wanted to force them to shoot it from outside and slow it down, and we weren't able to do that very well."

Scott County's 42-22 halftime lead was built on a 26-17 rebounding edge.

The Braves ended the night with 13 steals (five by Hatchett) and 22 assists (seven by Hatchett) while forcing Fair Play into 23 turnovers.

"I thought we played a little bit better today as far as doing a few things, the things that you don't notice," Scott County coach Ronnie Cookson said.

Everyone on Scott County's roster received playing time, and the celebration was complete with Scott County fans singing "Happy Birthday" to senior Mark Freed, who scored two points and had five rebounds.

"This is all I could ever ask for," Freed said. "It's a dream come true. Every high school kid works their freshman and sophomore and junior year to get to their senior year to win a state championship. I feel we came out and did our very best."