Scott City boys basketball team slips into district final

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- It took the Scott City boys basketball team 29 minutes of play to earn its first lead against West County in its Class 3 District 3 semifinal Tuesday night.

That was longer than expected for the No. 1 seed, but the Rams never surrendered the lead and held on for a 61-60 victory at West County High School.

"I just told them I was proud of them and the way they survived," Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "We obviously didn't play well at all, and we finally woke up in the fourth quarter and made some plays. Landon [Robert] stepped up with two huge shots and got us right there, and our defense did a good job of being quick and getting some stops for us."

The Rams trailed by seven points entering the fourth quarter, and West County extended its lead to nine by scoring the first basket of the period.

Scott City went on a 16-3 run from that point.

Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller reacts to a basket against West County during the fourth quarter of their Class 3 District 3 semifinal Tuesday in Park Hills, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Senior Landon Robert made the second of his back-to-back 3-point attempts with 5 minutes, 46 seconds remaining to pull the Rams within a point.

"We made shots finally," Dannenmueller said about the fourth quarter. "We couldn't buy a bucket. We started relaxing and letting the game kind of come to us instead of trying to force it up. When Landon hit those two shots, that kind of opened everything up for us and we kind of relaxed."

Scott City took its first lead of the game when senior Zach Cotner made one of the Rams' few easy shots in the paint with three minutes remaining to give his team a 50-49 advantage.

Cotner, who had to leave the game in the first half when his shoulder slipped out of its socket, extended the Rams' lead to 55-50 with 1:20 left with a putback after teammate Ryan Brock's free-throw miss.

"I heard their coach from all the way across the court yelling, 'Box out, box out,'" Cotner said. "I guess he just tried to go for the rebound. It was a long rebound. I grabbed it over him, swept through and I was trying to get away from the 6-5 guy. I didn't feel like getting blocked, so I just layed it up and hoped it went in."

Scott City maintained a two-possession lead in the closing minute. West County's Justin Lashley made a 3-pointer at the buzzer after Brock made one of two free three throws with 4.5 seconds left.

"It was awesome to see them respond," Dannenmueller said. "Real good teams find ways to win these games, because if you looked at it and you watched the game, we probably didn't deserve to win."

The Rams shot just 34 percent (9 of 26) in the first half, while West County made drives to the basket for layups look routine.

"We did not come out with enough intensity on offense, and we did not shut down dribble penetration at all, and that really hurt us," Cotner said.

Scott City trailed 31-24 at halftime.

"We had effort, but we didn't have the effort that it took to stop them," Dannenmueller said. "They were getting some easy baskets. When you're not scoring offensively, you don't look forward to playing defense. When you get a big score, then you want to go down there and get a big stop. We weren't doing that.

"I think the reason why we struggled there defensively for a while in the first half was because we weren't putting the ball in the hole, and we didn't have that confidence."

Scott City junior Ryan Fotner entered the game after Cotner's injury. He immediately drove the lane for a score. It was two of just four points in the game for Fortner, who made his impact in other ways, particularly on defense.

"They did some great things for us," Dannenmueller said about his bench. "Ryan Fortner came in and just played defense. He was a bulldog. He got in there and banged around a little bit. It's stuff that isn't going to show up on the stat sheet, but as coach you appreciate it."

It was the stuff that helped make the difference in the fourth quarter, too.

"We always say in the huddle, 'Family,'" Fortner said. "We were just sticking together."

Scott City will face Saxony Lutheran in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at West County.

West County 12 19 14 15 -- 60

Scott City 10 14 14 23 -- 61

WEST COUNTY (60) -- Justin Lashley 20, Jesse Waters 9, Jake Coleman 6, Tate Watson 8, Steven Barnett 11. FG 21, FT 14-19, F 23. (3-pointers: Lashley 3, Watson 1. Fouled out: Waters)

SCOTT CITY (61) -- Landon Robert 10, Jesse Sanders 14, Tyler Adams 3, Jonathan McFall 11, Zach Cotner 14, Ryan Fotner 4, Ryan Brock 5. FG 20, FT 16-28, F 17. (3-pointers: Robert 2, Sanders 1, Adams 1, McFall 1. Fouled out: none)