Scott County Central boys basketball team wins seventh straight OIT

Editor's note: The name of Scott County Central coach Frank Staple has been corrected in this story.

ORAN, Mo. -- Scott County Central went to a zone defense to try to help contain Malden senior Cortez Robbins in the championship game of the Oran Invitational Tournament on Friday night.

In the process, the six-time defending tournament champs found the zone.

The top-seeded Braves held Robbins, who had 18 points in the first half, scoreless for the first six minutes and 46 seconds of the third quarter.

The Braves also held his teammates scoreless for the first 5 minutes and 27 seconds.

It allowed Scott County Central to open the half with a 12-0 run to put third-seeded Malden in a deep hole that it never emerged.

The Braves, who won the Class 1 state title last year, remained undefeated with a 71-67 victory to extend their reign in the tournament to seven years.

Junior Jeffery Porter, one of two returning starters from last year's team, led the way for the Braves with 23 points.

"We just wanted to keep [the Oran streak] going and do it for our seniors and get another one for the fans," Porter said.

The Green Wave came into the contest 2-0 -- both its wins in the tournament -- and gave the Braves all they wanted behind the duo of Dobbins, a 6-foot senior, and 6-foot-5 junior Trevor Ison.

The pair combined for all 17 of the Green Wave's points in the second quarter, with Dobbins netting 12.

Scott County took a 17-16 lead into the quarter and opened up a 25-19 lead when senior Javonta Daniel scored off a rebound with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left in the half.

But a pair of free throws by Dobbins, a fastbreak layin by Ison and an inside basket by Dobbins evened the score at 25-25 with 3:51 left in the half. Malden nudged ahead three times, and the game was tied at 27, 29 and 33. Porter put the Braves ahead with a jumper from the free-throw line with two seconds left in the half as Scott County scored the final three points for a 35-33 lead at the intermission.

It would be a lead the Braves never surrendered.

"We were lucky to be ahead, but I told my kids, 'Good job grinding it out and continuing to fight, but we've got to execute a little bit better,' but then again, I give all the credit to Malden," Scott County coach Frank Staple said. "They made it tough."

Especially Dobbins.

"Dobbins is just a player," Staple said. "Him and [Trevor] Ison, those two really gave us fits. They're a tough matchup for us. "

Staple tried to counter the matchup problem with the zone.

"We went to that zone just to stop that penetration," Staple said. "They were just eating us alive, and that's where we've got to improve."

With the zone in place, Dobbins turned the ball over once, drew an offensive foul, and shot an airball from the baseline during the Braves' 12-0 run to start the half -- a 15-0 run stretching back to the second quarter. Five Braves scored in the third-quarter spurt, which was started by a 3-point basket by senior Drake Kesler at the 5:54 mark and capped by a jumper by Daniel near the free-throw line with 2:54 left in the period for a 47-33 lead.

"[The zone] slowed us down, made us unsure of ourselves, and it shouldn't have, but it did," Malden coach Andrew Halford said.

Ison ended the Malden drought with an offensive putback with 2:33 left in the quarter, which ended with the Braves holding a 54-42 lead.

Malden did make things interesting in the fourth quarter as Dobbins and Ison again led the charge, combining for 20 of the Green Wave's 25 points in the period.

Scott County led 61-52 with 4:10 left in the game when Dobbins went on a personal 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 61-57 with 3:31 left.

The Braves led 64-57 with 2:17 left when Dobbins scored on a fastbreak and Ison hit a 3-pointer to pull Malden to within 64-62 at the 1:13 mark.

Porter answered with a 12-foot bank shot with 58 seconds left for the Braves' final field goal of the night.

The Braves managed to hang on with 5-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line but had to endure some tense moments, the most dangerous being when Dobbins was fouled on a drive to the basket and saw a potential three-point play fail to materialize when his shot spun out of the cylinder with 17 seconds left and down 70-67. Dobbins missed both his free throws and Porter iced the win at the free-throw line.

"It was just the kids continued to play hard," Halford said about his team's late comeback. "Their effort was still there in the third quarter, even when Scott County made the run, but it was just that execution was missing, and in the fourth quarter they just made some plays."

Porter, Daniel and junior Skylar Lemons were named to the all-tournament first team, along with Dobbins and Ison.

Porter averaged 25 points over the three games, while Daniel and Lemons averaged 17.6, and 16.3, respectively.

Daniel and Lemons, who is the Braves' sixth man, have made their presence felt in replacing players lost to graduation. Matthew Blissett and Porter are the only returning starters from last year's title team. Daniel averaged four points during the Braves' postseason push.

"Most of the teammates I got we've been playing together for a long time," Porter said. "We have that chemistry, so we know what each other are going to do. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We played all the time in the summer with each other, so we kind of knew everything about each other."

Lemons , who did not play varsity last season, scored 16 points off the bench against the Green Wave.

"The sixth man, to me, is just a very important piece of the puzzle," Staple said. "Skylar comes off and gives us a lot of offense and he played well this whole tournament. I'm very proud of him."

Daniel added 14 points and was active on the boards throughout the game.

"He's mainly our big man," Porter said about the 6-foot-2 forward. "He does everything. He passes the ball, he rebounds, he can score and he can handle the ball a little bit, too."

The Braves made only 12 of 23 free throws, and made numerous turnovers in the up-tempo game, but ultimately found a way to improve to 5-0.

"It's a process," Staple said. "We're finding who fits where -- their roles. They're still trying to learn how to play together. We're learning what we have to do to win. I think if we keep working -- we hope to get a guy or two back after Christmas -- hopefully, we'll be ready to roll by February."

The two teams will meet again on Dec. 19.

Tournament note

• First-team all tournament members also included Oran's Hunter Schlosser.
• The second team consisted of Advance's Preston Wuebker, Dalton Wilson and Dawson Mayo, Oran's Jacob Priggel and Lemons.

Malden 3

Championship

Scott County Central 71, Malden 67

Malden 16 17 9 25 -- 67

SCC 17 18 19 17 -- 71

MALDEN (67) -- Cortez Dobbins 31, Shaeen Perkins 11, Alejandro Gordon 4, Orlandis Farr 3, Trevor Ison 16, Shamaudre Barber 2. FG 28, FT 6-14, F 24 (3-pointers: Perkins 2, Farr 1, Ison 2. Fouled out: Gordon.)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (71) -- Drake Kesler 3, Skylar Lemons 15, Tre Moore 8, Javonta Daniel 14, Matt Blissett 8, Jeffery Porter 23. FG 27, FT 12-23, F 15 (3-pointers: Kesler, Lemons 3, Moore. Fouled out: none.)