Staple breaks the mold in adding to SCC trophy case

The Scott County Central boys basketball team added another chapter to the greatest history book in Missouri high school hoops with its Class 2 state championship Saturday.

The Braves, as you already know unless you been hiding in an underground bunker devoid of Wi-Fi the last couple days, won their record 18th state title overall and just their second in Class 2.

It's easy to soak in those facts and assume that this year was a carbon copy of so many that came before. The images of former coach Ronnie Cookson roaring on the sidelines and raging during timeouts come quickly to mind, no matter how long it's been since he's led the team.

Next are the thoughts of the Braves' swarming press, wearing down opponents with steal after steal in the middle of the court and finishing for easy layups and eventually easy victories.

Then when the trouncing is over the players and coaches can talk about how it all went according to plan and start thinking about how they'll fit the latest trophy into their overstuffed cases.

Those images are legendary, but this group of Braves did it their own way, led by coach Frank Staple.

Staple never has fit into the mold of a prototype SCC coach that was created by the tough-love Cookson and carried on mostly by men who graduated from the school. Or, in the case of Staple's predecessor Kenyon Wright, a man who played for SCC disciple David Heeb and was tutored by Cookson.

Staple is a soft-spoken man of strong faith who served as an assistant for three state championsbbefore taking over as the head coach. I can't be sure, but I doubt he's ever uttered a curse word or spoken down to anyone. His kindness is the type that can inspire even the best of people want to be better.

That's not to say he can't yell orders from the sideline, disagree with a call or demand more from his players -- physically and mentally -- than they thought they had to give.

When his team wildly overachieved by making it to the state quarterfinal round in his first season, thereby breaking a string of four consecutive state titles, his reward was a loud question about whether he had the fire to demand the type of discipline required to win at SCC.

All he did in reply was win a Class 1 title last year and then a Class 2 title this season that not many people would have predicted at the beginning of the season.

In the process he deviated from what is expected from the Braves, recognizing that his six-man rotation -- which changed in the middle of the season when one player was removed from the roster and another was added following a suspension -- wasn't best suited to run the vaunted SCC press.

For much of the season, including at the final four, SCC relied on its half-court defense and forced turnovers anyway, including a pivotal 16 in a five-point win over Mid-Buchanan in the state championship.

Staple said after the victory that the Braves had to "grind out" wins in the playoffs, including in the district title game against Bernie when the Braves trailed at halftime.

"I told them all year this is where we wanted to end the season, so it just feels great," Staple said. "I'm just proud to be a part of this whole thing."

That's a sentiment he's shared many times, that he's proud and honored to be playing a part in the history of SCC basketball.

It's a privilege few have received, but it also likely prevents many from understanding just how remarkable this Braves team was.

They won a state championship game with three players scoring in the title game -- and none of them are hot-shot Division I prospects. Three players, two who never scored, played all 32 minutes of the title game and another played 31. And yet they never wore down and never wavered when the bigger and deeper Mid-Buchanan team made multiple runs at them, even taking the lead once.

It's an accomplishment that would boggle the mind for years if any other team and any other coach had done it.

I understand, and I'm certain Staple does, that there are many people who helped make Saturday's victory possible. The list of names are long and include the likes of a couple Otto Porters, assistant coach Fred Johnson, Cookson, Wright and others.

But just as this group of Braves shouldn't get lost in the shuffle of other Scott County Central championship teams, neither should the job that Frank Staple did this season be lost in the history of people who, at least for now, have more notable names.

Rachel Crader is sports editor of the Southeast Missourian and semoball.com