Johnson leads Scott County Central past Charleston

~ The Braves claim their fifth straight victory, a 75-70 triumph over the Bluejays.

CHARLESTON -- Scott County Central showed on Friday that it has done something to fix that leaky baseline in its full-court press.

The Braves won their fifth straight game, dominating defending Class 3 state champion Charleston 75-70 after limiting the Bluejays to 43 points through three quarters.

"I think we did a good job cutting off their passes inside," Braves coach Ronnie Cookson said. "Now, they were able to get open on the high post."

That was one of the places where 6-foot-5 senior center Brian Parham did his damage for the Bluejays, but Scott County's 6-1 post Caleb Johnson was just as effective, outscoring Parham 26-20 in the key matchup.

"Caleb did really well," said Braves senior D.D. Gillespie, who added 16 points. "We wanted to get the ball inside to him. He showed that height doesn't make any difference."

Johnson scored 14 points in the first half, and Gillespie added 11, as the Braves (12-2) built a 37-24 advantage. They trailed only on the game's opening basket.

"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's effort didn't go unnoticed.

"They kind of surprised us tonight and beat us on the boards," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "We settled down and went to our game plan and went inside, but they had gotten such a big lead that we had to take some chances."

The Bluejays' chances from the perimeter were slim and none early in the game. They converted none of their 3-point shots until the final quarter, when they made five.

And Scott County, which had yielded 44 points to Notre Dame's 6-1 Austin Greer and 6-8 Ryan Willen in a 68-60 loss at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, wasn't as generous in the early going against Charleston (10-6).

"They are one of the fastest teams, like us," Gillespie said. "We just tried to cut them off. They shoot a lot of 3s, and we knew we needed to be worried about their jump shots."

"They're a good shooting team," Johnson added, "but most of the time, they weren't hitting their shots."

Charleston dug into a 10-point hole before 5 minutes had passed as Gillespie, Johnson and Drew Thomas (19 points) teamed up for a 14-4 lead. Parham was able to keep the Bluejays within striking range by collecting missed shots for 10 points in the first half.

The Bluejays' strongest push came at the start of the second half, when Parham, Fred Pratt (10 points) and Donald Dixon (18 points) sparked a comeback that closed a 13-point deficit to six. After Thomas hit two free throws and the Braves squandered another chance following a blocked shot by Gillespie, the Bluejays made one more push with Parham's slam dunk and a layin by Jerquawn Sherrell, cutting the score to 43-39.

But before the Braves had time to feel the pressure, Gillespie drilled a 3, then made a steal and fed Johnson for a layin, and Bobby Hatchett came up with a steal and a basket to restore a 50-39 lead in less than 90 seconds.

After Thomas and Gillespie closed out the third period with a five-point spree, the Braves' lead swelled to 61-43 before Sherrell finally canned Charleston's first trey with 6:10 remaining in the game. Randy Timmons pushed the Braves' lead back to 17, 65-48, with 5:00 remaining on an offensive rebound and basket.

Charleston, as it did in its 73-70 loss to Notre Dame at the Christmas tourney, closed strong with a 12-2 run in the final 2 minutes, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds.

"We've lost three straight games because we don't shoot the ball from the perimeter well," Farmer said. "There's no shame in losing to a team like Scott County Central, with their whole team back from last year."

SCC 20 17 20 18 -- 75

Charleston 8 16 19 27 -- 70

SCC (75) -- D.D. Gillespie 16, Bobby Hatchett 8, Drew Thomas 19, Caleb Johnson 26, Randy Timmons 4, Otto Porter 2. FG 31, FT 8-9, F 12 (3-pointers: Gillespie 2, Thomas 1. Fouled out: none)

Charleston (70) -- Antonio Riggens 9, Jerquawn Sherrell 11, Allen Hemphill 2, Fred Pratt 10, Donald Dixon 18, Brian Parham 20. FG 29, FT 7-10, F 13 (3-pointers: Riggens 2, Dixon 2, Sherrell 1. Fouled out: none)