Charleston coasts by Scott County Central 76-45 in Southeast Missourian Tournament

Treshaun Schandon, Deshaun Henderson and Demarion Lane did whatever heavy lifting Charleston boys basketball needed against Scott County Central in the opening round of the 2024 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

That trio eventually harnessed its energy into clutch contributions on both ends of the floor and celebrated big stops in the No. 3 seed Blue Jays’ 76-45 victory over the No. 14 seed Braves on Thursday, Dec. 26, at the Show Me Center.

“We actually have quite a few guys who can put the ball in the net,” head coach Jamarcus Williams said. “We try to put them in opportunities, or whatever they like, to be on the floor to score. Thankfully, this morning they were able to make some shots.

“This is a brand-new team from last year. Last year, we lost Ko’Terrion Owens, who led our stats in every column. We returned three key role players who are all stepping up into main roles this year. I have two guys who had varsity experience last year, and I brought my sophomore guard on late last year. So, with our entire roster, we only have three guys with returning varsity experience. As we progress through the season, we're going to get better and chemistry is going to continue to build and grow.”

Schandon led the way with a team-high 18 points, while Henderson and Lane dropped 14 and 11, respectively.

The Blue Jays took the lead for good with a 19-5 run in the third quarter and pulled away even more early in the final frame with a 10-3 spurt.

Charleston opened the contest with a quick 5-0 run following senior Adrian Rodgers’ 3-pointer in front of the SCC bench. Backed by junior Martavious Biles’ 3, the Blue Jays then extended that lead to 22-14 at the end of the opening quarter. Schandon had a team-high nine points at the half as Charleston held onto a comfortable 38-25 advantage before having its way in the final two quarters.

The Blue Jays pushed their winning streak to three following easy wins over Malden and Kennett before the holiday break. Charleston only needed to make three 3s in the game to earn its 10th win over SCC since 2016.

“We have a ton of room for growth,” Williams said. “We played a subpar first half and we just weren't very focused and gave up a bunch of transition buckets. Honestly, they got off some good shots, but they just weren't making them. In the second half, we wanted to put an emphasis on taking away those easy opportunities. So, we put emphasis on that at half, and made scoring a little bit more difficult for them.”

High-scoring senior Cortavian Banks had a team-high 18 points and classmate Courtney Sanders III 11 for the Braves (2-4), who arguably had not faced an opponent of Charleston’s caliber this season. Head coach Tim Carlisle’s squad fought back following runs of five and seven in the first half, but SCC left a lot of points on the floor with misses from inside and outside the arc the rest of the way.

Charleston advances to the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament quarterfinals and will take on the winner of No. 6 Woodland and No. 11 Leopold at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Show Me Center. SCC drops to the consolations and will draw the loser of Woodland-Leopold at noon Friday.