Robert, Cotner lead Scott City boys basketball team past Advance

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Landon Robert finally found his stroke Friday.

The Scott City senior struggled to make shots in his team's first few games, but he caught fire against Advance. Robert scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Rams past the Hornets 73-63.

"Early in the season, my confidence was low and I've been working on practice and just mental practice," Robert said. "It was pretty much a confidence thing."

Robert sank four 3-pointers and finished 8 of 17 from the field (47 percent).

"He hasn't had his shot," Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "The last two games, he's shot better. Man, tonight, he came out on fire. We tried to run every set we could for him to get him hot. It was just awesome. It was huge for us. We needed someone to step up, and good players step up in big situations, and he did that for us tonight and we needed it big time."

Scott City's Zach Cotner drives to the basket on a fast break as Advance's Tyler Middleton looks on during the third quarter Friday in Advance, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Robert teamed with Zach Cotner to pull away from the Hornets in the third quarter. The Scott City pair combined to go 8 of 11 from the field for 18 of their team's 25 points in the quarter. That helped the Rams break a 32-32 deadlock at halftime.

"Once he starts hitting 3s and everyone starts hitting outside shots, it opens up our inside game," Cotner said about Robert. "We have a lot of guys who can work around the paint and use the glass and their bodies to create a shot."

The Rams (5-2) started the third quarter on a 9-2 run and never trailed again, but that doesn't mean there wasn't drama. A 9-1 run later in the third quarter pushed the Rams' lead to 52-38 with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in the third period.

The Hornets whittled their deficit to four points with 3:38 left in the game on a bucket by Ethan Barr.

But Jesse Sanders hit a shot then Rams post player Ryan Fortner buried a 3-pointer from the wing to push the lead back to nine.

Advance's Ethan Barr shoots over Scott City's Ryan Fortner during the first quarter Friday.

"Our two bigs, Ryan Brock and Ryan Fortner, are very capable of stepping out and shooting the 3," Dannenmueller said. "You watch them in practice, they step out and shoot it with regularity, so I had all the confidence in the world in him when he took that shot."

Cotner said he never doubted the shot was going to fall.

"I had complete confidence in the shot," he said. "That's one thing our coach tells us to learn about our teammates -- have confidence in yourself and confidence in your teammates. As soon as I saw him pull up, I saw he was all in rhythm and stuff, I knew it was going in. He hits that shot all the time in practice."

Advance didn't get within six after Fortner's 3-pointer.

"I was wondering where our guy was guarding him," Advance coach Andrew Halford said about Fortner's 3-pointer. "Trying to figure out what was going on. Just another defensive breakdown in the game."

Scott City's Landon Robert drives against Advance's Curtis Gilliland, left, and Hunter Wilson during the fourth quarter Friday.

The Rams fended off the Hornets down the stretch by making 9 of 13 free throws (69 percent) in the fourth quarter.

"It seemed like we missed a lot more than we made for a little bit," Dannenmueller said. "We shoot 25 to 40 free throws every single day. We try to shoot them when we're tired. I tell the kids to try to find your rhythm. Use the same one you would in a game, the same routine. We made just enough."

The Rams coach had good reason for that feeling. Scott City went 4 of 9 from the line in the first half.

"At first, we started off kind of iffy from it, but we pulled through at the end," Robert said. "We just hit them when we needed to make them most."

The game didn't start well for Advance, which shot 20 percent (3 of 15) in the first quarter. But the Hornets ended the second quarter on a 6-0 run to pull even at the break.

Advance's Hunter Wilson shoots between Scott City's Landon Robert, left, and Jesse Sanders during the first quarter Friday in Advance, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

"Coming into the ballgame, I told the boys you've got to be ready for them," Halford said. "They're a good team and you got to be ready. We come out flat and they come out ready. That was a big difference was the first quarter, the way they came out."

Advance tried getting the ball into the post more often in the second half, which allowed Barr to score 12 points after halftime. He led the Hornets (4-3) with 19 points.

"I was just posting hard and I just told my teammates to try to get me the ball and they listened," Barr said. "Just trying to score."

But the Rams shot 58 percent (11 of 19) from the field in the third quarter compared to 25 percent (2 of 8) for Advance.

"I thought our defense did a really good job tonight," Dannenmueller said. "We got down and guarded a really good offensive team."

Scott City 18 14 25 16 -- 73

Advance 12 20 11 20 -- 63

SCOTT CITY (73) -- Zach Cotner 20, Ryan Fortner 6, Ryan Brock 8, Jesse Sanders 8, Jonathan McFall 2, Landon Robert 23, Tyler Adams 6. FG 26, FT 13-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Fortner 2, Robert 4, Adams 2. Fouled out: none)

ADVANCE (63) -- Ethan Barr 19, Hunter Wilson 11, Lane Below 4, Curtis Gilliland 8, Trey Wallace 4, Jacob Spears 9, Tyler Middleton 8. FG 22, FT 12-16, F 21. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Spears)