Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Jackson overcomes slow start to defeat Scott City in quarterfinal

Three minutes into the first quarter, top-seeded Jackson looked out of sync, and the Indians fell behind No. 8 Scott City.

The Indians found themselves in a seven-point hole, but thanks in part to a successful press, the Indians fought their way back to a 60-44 quarterfinal win over the Rams at the Show Me Center.

"I thought early we were dead," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "I thought Scott City came out and they were really ready to play. They were ready to play, and I felt like we were on our heels right off the bat."

Scott City put together a 9-2 run to start the game, but turned the ball over on its next five possessions as the Indians' briefly activated their press.

Jackson converted six points off of the Rams' miscues and guard Garrett Walker added a layup to give the Indians a 10-9 lead with 3 minutes, 11 seconds to play in the first.

"We pressed for that one stretch and got some turnovers to be able to get back in the game, not because we did anything good offensively, so I thought that was a key thing that we were able to get two or three steals and kind of score a little bit so that we got back in the game."

Scott City turned the ball over six times in the first quarter and finished the game with 17, but coach Mark Dannenmueller said he was responsible for not getting his team prepared to play against Jackson's press.

"They're long and athletic and you can't make lazy passes. I don't think our passes were lazy, they just weren't as good of passes as they needed to be and we kind of rushed it a bit," Dannenmueller said. "We were kind of caught off guard. I didn't know they were going to come out and press us. I was kind of shocked about that, but that's my fault because I didn't prepare us for that."

The teams remained within one point of each other for the first three minutes of the second quarter before Walker hit his first 3 of the game to give Jackson a 20-16 lead.

Braden Cox cut the lead to 20-18 with a layup during Scott City's next possession, but the Indians were able to widen the scoring gap with a 13-2 run to close out the half.

Senior Blake Reynolds scored seven of his game-high 15 points during that stretch, including a 3-pointer, while Braden Wendel hit a 3 to give Jackson a 33-24 lead just before halftime.

Scott City's Isiah Berry looks to drive past Jackson's Connor Shepard in the second quarter Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014, during a championship quarterfinal of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

Scott said it was important for his team to have a lead at halftime after a sluggish start.

"I thought it was huge because it was one of those where you felt like the way we played we should be down," Scott said. "Just the fact that we had a lead in a close game was big. I thought that allowed us to start well in the the third quarter because we could build a lead and then kind of play the game like that."

Jackson started the third with a 14-5 run and held its largest lead of the game at 49-29.

Five players scored for Jackson during that stretch, while Scott City was held scoreless for the first four minutes of the half until Dylan Keller put in a layup and converted a free throw after being fouled.

Keller scored all seven points for the Rams in the third.

Scott City will play in the fifth-place semifinal Monday at 3 p.m. on Monday.

Jackson advances to a semifinal at 6 p.m. on Monday.

"Today, except for that first three minutes of the game, I thought we did some good things," Scott said. "Didn't play great, didn't play as well as we could, but we did the things we needed to do to build a lead, so I thought that was important. Monday will be a new test whether it's Charleston or Scott County, it'll be a different style of play."

Scott City 11 13 7 13 -- 44

Jackson 13 20 16 11 -- 60

SCOTT CITY (44) -- Dylan Keller 14, Brock Uelsman 10, Braden Cox 9, Trent Pobst 4, Isiah Berry 2, Ty Wilthong 2, Tyler Rogers 2, Jaden Kaiser 1. FG 19, FT 5-8, F 17. (3-pointers: Keller 1. Fouled out: Pobst.)

JACKSON (60) -- Blake Reynolds 17, Garrett Walker 12, Connor Shepard 9, Braden Wendel 8, Jacob Smith 6, Terry Venable 5, Stephen Irons 3. FG 23, FT 9-16, F 13. (3-pointers: Walker 2, Wendel 2, Reynolds 1. Fouled out: none.)