Scott City triumphs over East Prairie to claim Scott-Miss Tournament championship

After narrowly winning the first matchup, a lot of anticipation followed the Scott-Miss Tournament championship game between Scott City and East Prairie.

Home-court advantage served Scott City well, as the Rams stampeded over the Eagles 65-53 to take home the title on Friday, Feb. 7, in Scott City, Mo.

Breaden Walton and Kobe Watson each scored 19 points to lead the Rams. For a team with a lot of contributing underclassmen, taking home the title in a packed environment was a new experience for them.

“It’s crazy,” Walton said. “It’s a different feeling. I’m young so I didn’t experience this. It’s just nice.”

Scott City sophomore Max Snider scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter to secure the win for the Rams.

“It’s a great feeling,” Snider said. “All the hard work that we had put in here paid off.”

Connor Marcum led the Eagles with 22 points including six baskets from the three-point line. Noah Johnson, a Southern Illinois Edwardsville baseball commit, scored 15 points to round out the double-digit scorers for East Prairie.

The Rams charged out of the gates with a 17-3 run, led by Watson making three baskets from the three-point line and a free throw. Marcum made a buzzer-beating basket from the opposite three-point line to cut the Scott City lead to 17-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Walton did most of his damage in the second quarter with nine points to help Scott City maintain its first-half lead at 30-29.

“I haven’t been shooting well this whole season so I’ve been trying to take it to the rack,” Walton said.

Johnson was activated in the second quarter with eight points to give the Eagles a 21-13 advantage. Ty Wallace scored all eight points in the second quarter, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to pull East Prairie within a point at halftime.

Johnson scored the rest of his points in the third quarter as he and Marcum teamed up to produce 14 of East Prairie’s 16 points in the period to take a 45-42 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Rams tied the game 45-45 on a Walton free throw with six minutes remaining. They then unleashed their secret weapon as Snider made back-to-back three-pointers to push the SC lead to 51-45 with 4:23 remaining.

“My teammates set me up perfectly for the situation,” Snider said, “and I executed.”

The Rams outscored the Eagles 23-8 in the fourth quarter to turn an otherwise close and exciting game into another Scott City blowout.

The Rams have won 10 of their last 11 games and can surpass last season’s win total by winning their final five regular season games. Scott City (18-3) has averaged 73.9 points per game and allowed 45.4 points from the opposition.

Scott City has a favorable schedule coming up, especially next week with home matchups against Malden on Tuesday, Feb. 11, Chaffee on Wednesday, and Perryville on Friday.

East Prairie (16-4) has six games left on the regular season schedule and a strong chance to win 20 games for the third straight season. After tangling with St. Mary’s South Side in Charleston on Saturday, Feb. 8, the Eagles return home to host Campbell on Tuesday.