Scott County Central boys basketball team will face Drexel for state championship

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Dominique Porter already owns two state championship titles, and the Scott County Central senior plans to do nothing to jeopardize a third.

"I mean I ain't going to be anti-social, but I'm not going to overdo it or stay up later or anything," he said. "I'm going to get in bed at a good time. Just get focused."

Porter and the Braves punched their ticket into the Class 1 state title game with their 78-48 victory over Glasgow in a state semifinal Thursday at the Hearnes Center. It was SCC's eighth consecutive victory at the final four.

"Each year is a new excitement," SCC coach Kenyon Wright said. "We may have been up here several times, but it's still one of those things you've got to be pretty lucky to get up here."

The Braves will face Drexel, a 61-36 winner over St. Joseph Christian, in Saturday's 5 p.m. state title game at Mizzou Arena.

This will be Drexel's first appearance in the state championship game, while SCC will be trying for its fourth consecutive title and No. 16 overall.

"What I feel is what we're going to have to do is handle their pressure," Drexel coach Dennis Bolton said. "I think we are a good enough team in the half court, if we can slow it down."

Bolton said he's changing his game plan from what worked in his team's semifinal win against St. Joseph Christian to what he thinks will be effective against SCC.

"We felt the bigger court would be to our advantage in this [semifinal] game, just getting out and running and forcing them to play at our speed," Bolton said. "We're going to have to take a 180. We can't play at their speed. We're going to have to try to slow it down and take care of the ball. Time and possession are going to be very, very important for us, making sure that we are extremely efficient with the basketball."

Bolton said he learned a few hints about overcoming the Braves' pressure defense by watching it operate against Glasgow.

"I think you slow it down until you get it to half court and then you try to attack them because it seems like as fast as they are, once the ball does go past them, sometimes you can attack it on the back side," he said. "Glasgow seemed to have good luck once they did get it across half court attacking the basket and getting the 3-on-2 looks."

Drexel (26-4) featured a balanced attack in its win Thursday. C.J. Bolton, a 6-foot-4 junior, scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Javyn Johnson, a 6-2 sophomore guard, added 15 points, while 6-0 junior guard Trevor Cooley chipped in 15 points.

"In this one I think our post game is a little bit better, but obviously it's got to be our guards getting the ball up the floor," coach Bolton said about the state title game.