NBA-like Braves win conference tourney

The Scott County Central boys basketball rolled to the championship in the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament Friday night, hammering Scott City 92-53.

"I don't think the Lakers could've beat them tonight," Scott City coach Lance Amick said.

Scott County Central (12-4) hit 11 3-pointers and claimed a 52-33 lead by halftime. The Braves, who were hosting the tournament, stretched the advantage to 79-42 after three periods.

"This is the best we shot all year," Braves coach Ronnie Cookson said. "The boys were ready to play, and they played hard."

Drew Thomas led Scott Central, state-ranked in Class 1, with 30 points, including five 3-pointers. D.D. Gillespie added 20 points, Bobby Hatchett scored 17 and Caleb Johnson had 14.

For Scott City (10-6), Caleb Estes had 17 points, Alex King added 14 and Jay Simmons had 11.

"We got in early foul trouble and had to go to a zone to protect the guys and we didn't get on their shooters," said Amick, whose team's current winning streak included a win last against Sikeston. "What we thought were average shooters turned out to be great shooters tonight. Scott Central played great tonight."

In the third-place game, East Prairie held off Oran 73-70.

Robert Lang had 22 points and 14 rebounds in defeat for the Eagles and Steven Mock came off the bench to score 16 points.

Scott County Central 92, Scott City 53

Scott City 21 12 9 11 -- 92

Scott Co. Central 29 23 27 13 -- 53

SCOTT CITY (52) -- Caleb Estes 17, Alex King 14, Jay Simmons 11, Rynn Eskew 5, Jamie Pinksotn 4, Travis Scherer 1, John Pinkston 1. FG 14, FT 7-13, F 11 (3-pointers: Simmons 3, Estes 3. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (92) -- D.D. Gillespie 20, Mark Freed 7, Bobby Hatchett 17, Caleb Johnson 14, Drew Thomas 30, Toby Heeb 2. FG 24, FT 7-9, F 15 (3-pointers: Thomas 5, Hatchett 3, Gillespie 2, Freed 1. Fouled out: none)

East Prairie 73, Oran 70

Oran 16 2-0 13 21 -- 70

East Prairie 20 10 22 21 -- 73

ORAN (70) -- Robert Lang 22, Steven Mock 16, Chris Asmus 9, Kody Campbell 9, Hunter Glastetter 8, Nick Anderson 2, Jake Kluesner 2, Chase Seyer 2. FG 26, FT 7-12, F 21 (3-pointers: Campbell 1, Asmus 1, Mock 1. Fouled out: Lang)

EAST PRAIRIE (73) -- Paris Tipler 21, Tony Jones 18, M.C. Williams 19, Randy Woods 11, Jacob Garrett 2, Tyler Branam 2. FG 18, FT 20-29, F 15 (3-pointers: Willaims 4, Tipler 1. Fouled out: none)

Central 79,Caruthersville 46

Central hit 11 3-pointers and remained undefeated in SEMO Conference play by routing visiting Caruthersville.

Jajuan Bell drained seven 3-pointers and poured in 30 points to pace the Tigers, who improved to 9-9 overall and 3-0 in the league. Kerry Walker added 10 points for Central, which led 37-26 at halftime and outscored Caruthersville 42-20 in the second half.

Central 19 18 23 19 -- 79

Caruthersville 15 11 16 4 -- 46

CENTRAL (79) -- Kerry Walker 10, George Hamilton 9, Jajuan Bell 30, Anthony Watts 9, Chase Johnson 8, Garrett Pannier 2, Derek Walker 3, Will McKenzie 2, Adam Wendel 4, Landon Ewers 2. FG 30, FT 8-16, F 14 (3-pointers: K. Walker 2, Bell 7, Watts 2. Fouled out: none)

CARUTHERSVILLE (46) -- Carter 5, Fields 7, Reed 20, Slaughter 10, Kagle 4. FG 19, FT 6-16, F 14 (3-pointers:Fields 1, Reed 1. Fouled out: Slaughter)

JV -- Central won.

Perryville 58,Grandview 54

Perryville overcame a two-point halftime deficit to post a Jefferson County Conference road win.

The Pirates (12-6, 4-1 Jeffco) were led by Ruck Dunn with 20 points and Michael Fritsche with 16.

Perryville 18 12 10 18 -- 58

Grandview 11 21 6 16 -- 54

PERRYVILLE (58) -- Corey Lorenz 5, Jonathan Hecht 8, Michael Fritsche 16, Brent Roth 9, Rick Dunn 20. FG 15, FT 25-32, F 17 (3-pointers: Hecht 1, Fritsche 1, Dunn 1. Fouled out: none)

GRANDVIEW (54) -- DeRouse 23, Hayes 6, Rector 8, Maberry 15, Barnes 2. FG 22, FT 7-12, F 20 (3-pointers: DeRouse 1, Rector 2. Fouled out: Rector)

JV -- Perryville won 48-8.

De Soto 79, St. Vincent 34

St. Vincent ran into a powerful De Soto squad on the road and suffered a lopsided defeat.

Gregory Finger led the Indians (8-7, 2-3 Jefferson County Conference) with nine points.

St. Vincent 10 6 12 6 -- 34

De Soto 22 17 30 10 -- 79

ST. VINCENT (34) -- Gregory Finger 9, Chris Fischer 8, Chris Wengert 7, Scott Blythe 6, Justin L'Hote 2, Josh Rollet 2. FG 10, FT 12-23, F 16 (3-pointers: Finger 2. Fouled out: none)

DE SOTO (79) -- Madden 18, Lawrence 16, Huskey 13, Garrett 11, Davis 10, Reanado 4, Guemmer 2, Carron 2, Polbert 2, DeClue 1. FG 30, FT 12-22, F 19 (3-pointers: Madden 4, Davis 2, Garrett 1. Fouled out: none)

JV -- De Soto won 42-38.

Bell City 85, Bloomfield 51

Will Bogan scored 27 points and Nick Niemczyk added 23 as Bell City won easily on the road.

The Cubs (12-4) scored at least 23 points in each of the first three quarters.

Bell City 29 23 24 9 -- 85

Bloomfield 17 17 11 6 -- 51

BELL CITY (85) -- Nick Niemczyk 23, Melvin Johnson 8, Phillip Gross 9, Austin Segers 4, Austin Bush 7, Will Bogan 27, Eddie Green 3, Clay Dover 4. FG 30, FT 18-23, F 9 (3-pointers: Niemczyk 3, Johnson 2, Gross 1, Bush 1. Fouled out: none)

BLOOMFIELD (51) -- Garnett 5, McNiell 1, Rogers 4, Harris 2, Williamson 10, Clary 11, Smith 12, Dumey 6. FG 20, FT 6-9, F 9 (3-pointers: Williamson 2, Clary 1, Smith 2. Fouled out: none)

JV -- Bell City won 56-55.

Eagle Ridge Christian 71, Twin City Christian 35

Daniel Cohen had a double-double as Eagle Ridge Christian romped past visiting Twin City Christian of Festus-Crystal City.

Cohen scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Eagles (9-4). Ben Douglass led in scoring with 18 points, Aaron Shell had 16, and Scott Edgar added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Twin City 12 8 4 11 -- 35

Eagle Ridge 25 17 12 17 -- 71

TWIN CITY (35) -- Bowman 16, Primeau 6, Houston 5, Cole 4, Watts 4. FG 15, FT 3-4, F 11 (3-pointers: Bowman 2. Fouled out: none)

EAGLE RIDGE (71) -- Ben Douglass 18, Aaron Shell 16, Daniel Cohen 11, Scott Edgar 10, Josh Wiseman 7, Daniel Lies 5, Andrew Toeniskoetter 4. FG 31, FT 6-11, F 6 (3-pointers: Douglass 2, Shell 1. Fouled out: none)

New Salem Baptist 68,Collinsville (Ill.) Christian 50

Brett Jones poured in 28 points as New Salem Baptist won at home.

Matt Kell and Jacob Green both scored 12 points for New Salem (8-10), while Trent Jones added 10.

New Salem 14 20 10 24 -- 68

Collinsville Chr. 10 6 24 10 -- 50

NEW SALEM (68) -- Trent Jones 10, Josh Davault 6, Jacob Green 12, Brett Jones 28, Matt Kell 12. FG 26, FT 13-25, F 14 (3-pointers: T. Jones 1, B. Jones 2. Fouled out: none)

COLLINSVILLE (50) -- Josh Webster 17, Jabari Mitchell 14, Josh Merritt 9, Josh Cotras 7, Noah Enlow 3. FG 22, FT 4-11, F 17 (3-pointers: Cotras 2. Fouled out: Webster)

GIRLS BASKETBALLNew Salem Baptist 63,Collinsville (Ill.) Christian 13

New Salem Baptist took an 18-1 lead in the first quarter as it remained unbeaten with a road victory.

Sarah Green paced New Salem (10-0) with 21 points, while Celsey Cook added 12.

New Salem 18 9 22 14 -- 63

Collinsville Chr. 1 5 4 3 -- 13

NEW SALEM (63) -- Sarah Green 21, Laura Poole 8, Celsey Cook 12, Kelsey Barlow 4, Martha Poole 6, Leah Jones 8, Sarah Long 4. FG 30, FT 2-4, F 8 (3-pointers: S. Green 1. Fouled out: none)

COLLINSVILLE (13) -- Jessica Gates 2, Kimmie Pauley 2, Kristen Lane 2, Dyllan Schwend 1, Amber Valci 2, Breonna Robinson 2, Megan Farmer 2. FG 5, FT 3-8, F 4 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

-- From staff reports