Scott City's season ends vs. Charleston

CHARLESTON -- Scott City withered under the perimeter attack of top-seeded Charleston in their Class 3 District 1 boys basketball semifinal Thursday.

The fifth-seeded Rams were able to keep the game close early on, but they could not keep up as Charleston emerged with the 83-49 win. The Bluejays will face New Madrid for the district title. The Eagles beat Kennett 60-54 in the other semifinal.

Charleston's Donald Dixon played physical inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds in the first quarter to help his squad jump out to a 21-14 lead. Dixon finished with a team-high 17 points.

The Rams (8-16) came out in the second quarter trying to clog the lane and take away easy looks in the paint. The Bluejays responded with a pair of 3-pointers by Gregory Tucker and one each from Antonio Riggens and Deonte Jones that busted open the game.

"With a team like Charleston, it's tough," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "We tried to take away the middle and then they hurt us bad with the 3s."

The end result of the first-half barrage of 3-pointers left Charleston with a 51-31 lead going into halftime.

Charleston's 7-0 run to start the third quarter all but sealed the game.

The Bluejays continued to hit the outside shot, finishing 10 of 17 from behind the arc (59 percent).

Scott City senior guard Shae Simmons had a big night in the final game of his high school career with 24 points, including three 3-pointers.

"They played physical," Simmons said. "I just want to congratulate them on the win."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Scott City141799--49

Charleston21301816--83

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:SCOTT CITY (49) -- Skylar Cobb 5, Cody Page 6, Shae Simmons 24, Kyle Lacey 2, Caleb Anderson 2, Tyler Glueck 2, Kaleb Eldridge 6, Blake Crail 2. FG 18, FT 8-14, F 13. (3-pointers: Simmons 3, Eldridge 1, Cobb 1)

CHARLESTON (83) -- Antonio Riggens 13, Jeremy Spencer 8, Deonte Jones 12, Donald Dixon 17, Chase McClendon 6, Terrell Smith 4, Akeem Sharp 5, Gregory Tucker 12, Demarques McKeller 6. FG 31, FT 11-16, F 14. (3-pointers: Riggens 2, Spencer 1, Jones 2, Sharp 1, Tucker 4)