Resurgent Rams face Charleston in final

The Scott City boys basketball team has continued its late-season surge, reaching the championship game of the Class 3 District 1 tournament.

Second-seeded Scott City improved to 19-7 with a 79-70 win over third-seeded Portageville in Thursday night's semifinals at New Madrid County Central.

"It's a really nice win for our program against a Portageville team that is always once of the best in our area," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "We've really been playing well the second half of the season."

Alex King paced the Rams with 19 points and Jamie Pinkston had 18.

Jay Simmons hit four 3-pointers and added 16 points for the Rams, while Rynn Eskew contributed 14 points.

Scott City, trailing 19-16 after one quarter, outscored the Bulldogs 26-11 in the second period to lead 42-30 at halftime.

It was 58-46 after three quarters and the Rams led by 18 points late before coasting to victory.

The Rams will face top-seeded and state-ranked Charleston at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the title game.

"Nobody expects us to win, but we'll just go in and play and see what happens," Amick said. "My kids have just battled the whole second half of the year."

Scott City 79, Portageville 70

Scott City 16 26 16 21 -- 79

Portageville 19 11 16 24 -- 70

SCOTT CITY (79) -- John Pinkston 5, Jay Simmons 16, Rynn Eskew 14, Jamie Pinkston 18, Caleb Estes 7, Alex King 19. FG 26, FT 22-35, F 18 (3-pointers: Simmons 4, Estes 1. Fouled out: none)

PORTAGEVILLE (70) -- Byron Wright 5, Jacob Estes 2, Leonard Boyd 2, Mikey Johnson 4, Trey Mosby 23, Marcus Green 7, E.J. Birdwell 9, Kony Ealy 10, Terrale Jones 8. FG 28, FT 9-21, F 23 (3-pointers: Mosby 2, Wright 1, Birdwell 1, Jones 1. Fouled out: none)

Class 1 District 2Bell City 93, Leopold 29

Bell City barely worked up a sweat in posting its 19th consecutive victory in the semifinals at Greenville.

The top-seeded Cubs (23-4), ranked third in the state, were led in scoring by Will Bogan with 28 points. Nick Niemczyk had 20, followed by Phillip Gross with 15 and Melvin Johnson with 11.

Matt Stoverink paced fourth-seeded Leopold, which trailed 54-11 at halftime, with nine points.

In the other semifinal, second-seeded Eminence beat No. 3 Lesterville 60-43.

Bell City and Eminence will square off at 7:30 p.m. tonight for the district title.

Leopold 2 9 10 8 -- 29

Bell City 25 29 28 11 -- 93

LEOPOLD (29) -- Nathan Nenninger 5, Darren VanGennip 8, Larry Nussbaum 3, Eric Fluchel 4, Matt Stoverink 9. FG 13, FT 0-4, F 5 (3-pointers: Nenninger 1, Nussbaum 1, Stoverink 1. Fouled out: none)

BELL CITY (93) -- Nick Niemczyk 20, Melvin Johnson 11, Cody Bailey 3, Chris Blissett 2, Phillip Gross 15, Austin Segers 8, Marty Dames 4, Will Bogan 28, Clay Dover 3, Skylor Blackler 2. FG 41, FT 6-10, F 11 (3-pointers: Niemczyk 1, Johnson 2, Bailey 1, Gross 1. Fouled out: none)

--From staff reports