Southeast Missourian Player of the week: Scott City's Zach Cotner

Senior Zach Cotner gave coach Mark Dannenmueller a big hug after the Scott City boys basketball team captured the Class 3 District 3 title.

"I don't even know how to explain it," Cotner said. "I've never felt this way before in my life. This is a great feeling."

Cotner scored 10 points in the Rams' 48-35 victory over Saxony Lutheran in the district title game. He scored six of his points during a minute span in the fourth quarter.

"We knew that we were up by a little bit, but we needed to put it on them real fast and keep going," said Cotner, who had eight points in the final quarter. "We put a run on them and just put them away pretty much."

Cotner's effort drew praise from Dannenmueller.

"Zach and Landon [Robert] -- you want to talk about two seniors stepping up?" Dannenmueller said. "Landon got us started, kept us in the game early, and then Zach kind of finished it for us, so to speak. You don't want anything more out of your two leaders than that, so I was extremely excited for them, proud of them."

Cotner also played well in Scott City's 61-60 victory over West County in the semifinals. He scored 14 points.

Cotner and the Rams will try to earn a spot in the Class 3 state quarterfinals tonight when they play Crystal City at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo.