Scott-Miss Tournament, Mayor's Cup highlight a hoops-filled Saturday

A big day of high school basketball is upon us on Saturday.

The always crucial month of February will begin with the Scott-Miss Conference Tournament in Scott City, Mo., and the annual Mayor's Cup rivalry in Perryville, Mo.

As the top seed, Scott City is the clear favorite to win the Scott-Miss Tournament. The Rams went 7-1 in January, with their only loss coming on a buzzer-beater against Cape Central. These games will count as being on a neutral site, but Scott City has been 18-1 at home since February 1, 2023.

Scott City will take on No. 8-seeded Oak Ridge at 11:15 a.m. At 3-13, the Blue Jays have fallen off from a 17-11 2024 season. Their 85-64 win over Marquand-Zion on Jan. 30, snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Chaffee is the clear dark horse to make noise in the tournament. The Red Devils' 52-48 win over Meadow Heights on Thursday completed a 6-1 January entering the final month of the regular season. The sophomores run the show at Chaffee, and Thursday was no different, with Dane McMullin leading with 13 points and Nolan Fowler and Rolen Reischman each scoring 12 points.

East Prairie is most likely going to meet Scott City in the tournament final. The Eagles came up short against the Rams at home on Jan. 17 but rebounded with four straight wins entering the tournament. Noah Johnson entered this past week leading the Eagles with 25 points per game, while Connor Marcum averaged 19.5 points and Ty Wallace at 12.5. It certainly showed during a 94-62 home win against Perryville and a 69-31 road win over Twin Rivers.

Chaffee will have to defeat Scott County Central at 8 a.m., and East Prairie will need to dispatch Kelly at 12:30 p.m., on Saturday to set up a matchup in Tuesday's semifinals.

Like Oak Ridge, Kelly is another team that has fallen off after a successful season, going from 21-6 and winning the conference last year to entering this year's tournament with only two wins. Ross Peters and Skyler Still have been the highlights of an otherwise rebuilding year for the Hawks.

The first round concludes with Oran taking on Delta with the winner advancing to the semifinals, likely against Scott City. It's taken Toby Heeb a while to build the Bobcats up but Delta enters the tournament with its most wins since their last district championship season in 2021. The juniors run the show and the best is yet to come for Delta.

After those slate of games, our attention turns north of I-55 to Perryville, Mo., for the annual Mayor's Cup rivalry between Perryville and St. Vincent. The girls will tangle at 3 p.m., followed by the boys at 4:30 p.m.

The results from last year are likely to change this year. Perryville defeated St. Vincent 39-30 last year, but the Indians, coming off a road win at Jefferson on Tuesday, expect a different outcome with Brie and Kate Rubel now on their side. With the boost from the twins, St. Vincent is 15-2 after a 5-1 January to go with an 8-1 tournament-filled December.

The St. Vincent boys defeated the Pirates 75-51 on their way to their first district title in 15 years. St. Vincent has struggled this season but are riding a two-game win streak entering the matchup.

The Perryville boys haven't defeated the Indians since 2019, with a score of 66-56. The Pirates have won five of their last seven games and under first-year head coach Chris Hahn, have won the most games this year (7-9) since 2019 (14-10).

Last but certainly not least, Cape Central will host Jefferson City at 5:30 p.m. to close out an action-packed Saturday. According to MSHSAA.org, this is the first matchup between the two teams since 1952, which resulted in a 52-30 Tigers victory.