Indians overtake Rams

Jackson rallied in the fourth quarter for a 68-65 road victory.

By Jeremy Joffray ~ Southeast Missourian

The season may only be a couple of weeks old, but Tuesday night at Scott City High School there was almost a playoff atmosphere as Jackson's boys used a fourth-quarter comeback to edge the Rams 68-65 in front of a near-capacity crowd.

Jackson trailed by as many as seven points midway through the fourth quarter before rallying for the win. The Indians improved to 4-0, while Scott City fell to 2-2.

Jackson coach Darrin Scott said his team had talked about playing in front of a big crowd.

"I thought this would be a good experience for us playing in this kind of environment," he said.

It was the second straight close loss for the Rams, after a four-point loss to Twin Rivers in the Oran Tournament finals.

"These types of games are building blocks," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "If you respond to them the right way they're very beneficial."

Scott City led throughout much of the game and held its largest lead, 42-32, early in the third quarter. The Indians made their first big comeback at that point, doing much of their damage with leading-scorer Jack Puisis on the bench with three fouls.

Jackson went inside to big men Ryan Mirly and Aaron Redecker to narrow the gap to 42-38. Minutes later, Drue McNeely brought the Indians to within two with a 3-pointer, and Tyler Beussink put the Indians in front with two 3s of his own.

"In the third quarter, when Jack got his third, we made a run. Tyler Beussink made some shots," Scott said.

The Rams recovered to take a 53-51 into the fourth quarter and opened the period with a pair of buckets to extend the lead to 57-51. Mark Johnston's basket midway through the fourth pushed the lead to 62-55, but Scott City's offense would stall from there.

Jackson scored the next eight points to grab a 63-62 lead. Johnston made a pair of free throws with just under two minutes left to give Scott City a final lead at 64-63, but Puisis responded with an open jumper to put the Indians up for good.

Puisis scored 12 of his game-high 31 points during Jackson's fourth-quarter comeback.

Puisis said sitting out much of the third quarter made him hungry to do well down the stretch.

"It gets frustrating because you want to get back out and help your team," he said.

Scott City's top scorer, Mark Dannenmueller, missed a 3-pointer near the end of regulation with a chance to tie. A poor Jackson inbound pass with 1.8 seconds left nearly gave Scott City one last chance for a tie, but a desperation heave from midcourt by Jason Schenimann rimmed out.

"Toward the end of the game they stepped up and made some shots, and we had some turnovers and let it slip away," Amick said. "In a game this close it comes down to a handful of possessions."

After scoring 30 or more points in the Rams' first three games, Dannenmueller finished with 27 against Jackson. Dannenmueller finished 12-of-14 from the free-throw line.

"The thing we wanted to do was make him work for his points," Scott said.

Added Amick, "I just felt like Mark was a little off tonight. We just have to have people step up and take some of the scoring load."

Jackson has another tough test with Dexter on Friday. Scott City will face Oran on Friday.

Jackson 68, Scott City 65

Jackson 18 14 19 17 -- 68

Scott City 21 17 15 12 -- 65

JACKSON (68) -- Jack Puisis 31, Tyler Beussink 9, Ryan Mirly 10, Aaron Redecker 8, Trey Stone 4, Drue McNeely 3, Cody Cardwell 1. FG 27, FT 5-8, F 18 (3-pointers: Puisis 5, Beussink 3, McNeely 1. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT CITY (65) -- Mark Dannenmueller 27, Mark Johnston 14, Landon Hill 10, Farrell Wasson 2, Daniel Jackson 2, Andy Stephens 4, Alex King 2, Travis Glueck 4. FG 24, FT 16-20, F 12 (3-pointers: Dannenmueller 1. Fouled out: none)