Scott County Central boys basketball team fends off Scott City to claim Scott-Mississippi Conferrence tourney crown

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Kenyon Wright lamented the missed free throws.

Dominique Porter focused on the ones he failed to convert.

They sounded like Scott County Central lost the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament title game Friday.

"We didn't hit enough for me," said Wright, the Braves' coach. "I like to be up a little more than that."

SCC went 11 of 17 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to subdue Scott City's charges and post a 76-71 win.

Scott City's Zach Cotner takes a shot in front of Scott County Central's Dominique Porter during the fourth quarter Friday. Cotner scored a game-high 27 points.

"We needed them," Porter said about the free throws. "We practice them in practice. I mean, I needed to try to put them in the hole. A couple of them didn't fall the way I wanted them to, but we came out with the 'W.' ... In big games, we're going to have to put them down."

The Braves scored 11 of their 20 points in the final quarter at the free-throw line.

"We were pretty comfortable," SCC senior LaMarcus Steward said. "It was just team effort. Everybody tell us to make them."

Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half, and the lead changed hands 16 times before the intermission. The tight game was a drastic change from last season, when the Braves led Oran 59-12 at halftime of the tournament title game.

"I don't like just going out there and blowing somebody out," Porter said. "I like to have a game where they're going to push us to our last capability, show us what we're made of."

Zach Cotner's basket with 4 minutes, 53 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Rams their last lead. The Braves (10-5) then went on a 16-4 run to begin seizing control.

"They play really sound defense," Cotner said. "They stay calm and stay really poised throughout the whole game. Even if we started to make a little run on them, they know how to handle it. They're a very well-coached team."

The Braves shot 64 percent (7 of 11) in the third quarter to grab a seven-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

"The key was to execute on offense and make sure we get the right shots and get the ball to the right place," Steward said.

The Rams (13-5) kept hanging around and closed within three points on a Cotner basket with 2:01 remaining.

"Cotner is tough," Wright said. "He gets you off the dribble, he is tough. He's hard to beat."

The Braves regained some breathing room on an unconventional four-point play. Larandis Banks drove to the basket and sank his shot, and Porter was fouled jockeying for rebounding position after the shot went up. Porter went to the free-throw line, but the Braves weren't credited with Banks' basket.

Porter's first free-throw attempt swirled around the rim before finally falling. That's when Wright got the attention of the referees, who decided to count Banks' basket.

"I watched Larandis make it, then it switched my mind, and Andrew Pullen, one of my assistants, said, 'The basket counted, the basket counted,'" Wright said. "That was all on my bench. They were watching that. That was their two points."

Porter made the second free throw to give his team a seven-point lead with 1:23 left.

Another Cotner basket -- he scored 12 of his game-high 27 in the fourth quarter -- pulled the Rams to 73-69 with 37 seconds left, but the Braves hit 3 of 6 free throws from there to lock up the title.

Porter led the Braves with 25 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Steward added 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Cotner scored his 1,000th career point with 3:16 left in the third quarter. He entered the game needing 12 points to reach the milestone.

"They tried to keep it from me," Cotner said. "Coach didn't want to tell me. He didn't want it to go to my head. He just wanted me to play my game, and if I get there, I get there, and if I don't, I don't."

The Scott City student section made signs to commemorate the achievement and chanted, "That's 1,000," when Cotner hit from the right side for point No. 1,000.

"I've always wanted to make a name for myself, and I thought that was the way to do it," Cotner said. "It would have felt a lot better if we would have won."

Third-place game

Oran capitalized on another slow offensive night by Chaffee.

The Eagles grabbed a nine-point lead at halftime and rolled to a 49-32 victory for third place.

Chaffee only scored 12 points in the first half after being limited to 17 points in the first half against Scott City in the semifinals.

Sophomore Seth Ressel paced the Eagles with 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Junior Kody Moore added 10 points.

Senior Zach Dannenmueller paced the Red Devils (9-6) with 14 points.

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL 76, SCOTT CITY 71

Scott City 15 19 15 22 -- 71

SCC 16 19 21 20 -- 76

SCOTT CITY (71) -- Ryan Brock 14, Zach Cotner 27, Jonathan McFall 6, Tyler Adams 9, Jesse Sanders 7, Landon Robert 8. FG 29, FT 9-12, F 20. (3-pointers: Adams 3, Sanders 1. Fouled out: Adams)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (76) -- LaMarcus Steward 17, Larandis Banks 15, Dominique Porter 25, Jaylen Porter 12, Antonio Johnson 7. FG 28, FT 16-24, F 12. (3-pointers: Johnson 1, J. Porter 2, Banks 1. Fouled out: none)

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ORAN 49, CHAFFEE 32

Oran 8 13 8 20 -- 49

Chaffee 6 6 9 11 -- 32

ORAN (49) -- Kody Moore 10, Seth Ressel 19, Blake Carlyle 3, Alex Heuring 5, Blake Henson 7, Adam Schaefer 5. FG 18, FT 8-16, F 14. (3-pointers: Moore 2, Ressel 2, Schaefer 1. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (32) -- Peyton Montgomery 8, Zach Dannenmueller 14, Cody Johnson 2, Layton Tenkhoff 2, Jordan Yahn 6. FG 13, FT 6-19, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)