Scott City boys basketball team makes it 2 for 2 vs. rival Chaffee

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller is not a big fan of moral victories.

He prefers the real thing, like the 66-54 victory his team picked up Friday night against rival Chaffee.

It was Scott City's second game and second win since the recent Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament, where the Rams (9-4) picked up two moral victories.

The moral wins went down as losses for the eighth-seeded Class 3 Rams. The reward for holding leads against top-seeded Charleston and Class 5 Jackson was elimination.

"I told the kids, 'Don't get caught up in moral victories,'" Dannenmueller said. "'You played Charleston close, and you had a chance to beat Jackson and we couldn't hit some shots, but don't be caught up in moral victories.' I just told them, 'Hey, start it over. Let's get going.'"

Chaffee’s Charlie Montgomery drives to the basket against Scott City’s Zach Cotner during the second quarter Friday in Chaffee, Mo. Scott City won 66-54. (Kristin Eberts)

The Rams' only tangible memento from the Christmas tournament was a 25-point victory against Chaffee in the opening round.

Chaffee (7-3) followed that loss with three consecutive wins to grab the consolation championship, but it also came away with a lesson from the loss to Scott City.

It was not to get beat again by Rams senior Zach Cotner, who had his second 28-point game against the Red Devils in the tournament.

"We've seen Cotner too many times," Chaffee coach Josh Govreau said. "He's gotten 28, 30 points it seems like every time we play them."

Cotner finished with half that total -- 14 points -- Friday night.

Chaffee's Peyton Montgomery and Scott City's Ryan Fortner go up for a rebound during the third quarter of a game on Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, in Chaffee. Scott City won 66-54. (Kristin Eberts)

However, Rams senior guard Landon Robert came through with 18 points, including eight in a decisive 11-2 run in the second half that extended a six-point lead to 15 points.

"They were gearing for [Cotner], no doubt," Dannenmueller said. "They were trying to stop him, but that's what good teams do. We're not a team full of just Zach Cotner. We've got good offensive players, and we've just got to believe in ourselves. That's our biggest issue a lot of times."

Robert started the run by rattling in a 3-point shot as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. He hurriedly heaved a line drive over a defender and surprised himself and the full house when it found the mark for a 42-33 lead.

"I don't know how it went in," Robert said. "Coach always says it's always better to be lucky than good."

Robert threw some "good" at Chaffee in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Jonathan McFall bumped the Rams' lead to 10 points with a free throw before Robert connected on consecutive trips down the floor, first hitting from around the free-throw line and then from behind the arc for a 48-35 advantage.

"I thought Landon stepped up and shot extremely well," Dannenmueller said. "We needed him to, and he hit some big shots and kind of shifted the momentum to our side. When we got that 10-point lead, he hit some big shots for us."

McFall added a basket from in the lane the next trip down the floor, and Scott City had its biggest lead of the night, 50-35, with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the game.

Chaffee would draw as close as eight points, but not until the final minute.

Robert's scoring reflected the Rams' fortunes for much of the game. He didn't score in the first period, which ended with Chaffee ahead 9-6.

His first points came during a 7-0 run by the Rams over the first three minutes of the second quarter that put Scott City ahead for good.

Junior center Ryan Brock scored the first of his 14 points to open the second period, and Jesse Sanders gave Scott City the lead when he scored on a fast break and was fouled. The junior's free throw put the Rams ahead 11-9 with 6:07 left in the quarter.

Robert then capped the run with his first points, a pair of free throws that bumped the lead to 13-9.

Chaffee trailed just 21-18 after sophomore Charlie Montgomery scored on a conventional three-point play with 9 seconds left in the half, but Scott City took a six-point lead into halftime when Tyler Adams scored on a "3-point pass" just before the buzzer.

Adams took an inbound pass at the right side of the 3-point arc and made a wild hook pass that looked to be intended for Brock underneath the basket, but the ball swished through the hoop for a 24-18 lead at the break.

"That's the second time we had a pass go in against us from 3," Govreau said. "It happened to us against Bloomfield. It's just kind of a killer right there before halftime."

Jordan Yahn netted a fast-break basket for Chaffee to open the second-half scoring to close the gap to 24-20, but it was as close as the Red Devils came.

The Rams had a tougher time putting away the Red Devils than in the Christmas tournament, but then again they were not playing on the neutral floor of the Show Me Center.

"We knew we weren't going to come down here and blow them out. We knew they were going to give us their best shot, and they did," Dannenmueller said. "But I was proud of the way our kids survived."

Alex Crowe led Chaffee with 19 points after being held to three points in the first half.

Crowe scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. The senior scored 31 points against Oak Ridge in the consolation championship of the Christmas tournament, Chaffee's previous game.

"They have Robert all over him all over the floor," Govreau said. "We've got to do a better job of screening for him to get him better shots, but at the same time we have to have other kids step up and do that."

Chaffee freshman point guard Peyton Montgomery added 12 points, while Yahn, a senior, had 11.

Scott City 6 18 18 24 -- 66

Chaffee 9 9 15 21 -- 54

SCOTT CITY (66) -- Tyler Adams 3, Ryan Brock 14, Zach Cotner 14, Ryan Fortner 2, Jonathan McFall 7, Landon Robert 18, Jesse Sanders 8. FG 22, FT 17-29, F 16. (3-pointers: Robert 4, Adams. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (54) -- Alex Crowe 19, Peyton Montgomery 12, Layton Tenkhoff 2, Jordan Yahn 11, Alex Davie 3, Charlie Montgomery 7. FG 18, FT 16-23, F 23. (3-pointers: Crowe 2. Fouled out: Zach Dannenmueller, Davie, Tenkhoff)