Scott County Central basketball team reaches Class 1 championship game

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Jefferson coach Tim Jermain knew plenty about the Scott County Central boys basketball team before his team took the floor against it in a Class 1 semifinal.

The two-time defending state champions tend to travel with a daunting reputation.

"I guess Scott County's probably as good as advertised," Jermain said. "They're unbelievable in transition. I thought we did a lot of things we wanted to do, but getting them stopped in transition is a tremendous challenge, and they did a great job."

The Braves cruised to yet another postseason win Thursday, beating Jefferson 78-42 at Mizzou Arena to advance to the state championship game.

Jefferson was the last team to beat SCC at the final four when they forced the Braves to settle for third three years ago.

"They're a lot faster than they used to be," said Jefferson senior Jacob Stoll, who played on the team that defeated the Braves. "I remember Otto his freshman year wasn't nearly as big, nearly as fast. He's a great player, and it was tough to slow him down."

Porter scored 18 points in the first quarter and 34 points in the game to lead the Braves back to the title game while breaking a 51-year-old record for career points at the final four.

"I was feeling great," Porter said of his early points. "I was just trying to get in a rhythm. Coach always tells us to start the tempo of the game, just try to come out and set the tempo for the game."

Porter was 15 of 18 (83 percent) from the field and added nine rebounds, five steals and four assists.

"In the summers we get a chance to play against some really good players, and they made the comment that Otto is by far the best player they've ever played against," Jermaine said. "Not to take anything away from those other guys because they surround him with some really good players and they do a great job, but he's just at a different level than he was the last time we played them, and he's good.

"I mean, I asked him when I went in the locker room did he ever even hit the rim? He's tough to slow down because he does shoot it so well. His midrange game is probably as good as I've seen."

SCC (28-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after Porter slammed the ball through the hoop less than a minute into the game, but the Braves allowed Jefferson to hang around longer than most.

A free throw by Zachary Jermain with four minutes, 34 seconds left in the first gave Jefferson a 9-8 lead.

"We knew what they were going to do," SCC coach Kenyon Wright said. "Coach Jermain's a great coach. He's got his kids ready to play against the way we play. I didn't think we came out as ready to play to start with as they did.

"That made a big difference and it showed there in the first half. We couldn't get over the hump there in the first quarter and finally in the second quarter we kind of put it up a little bit, and the second half we really turned it up and got it going."

Jefferson (26-4) made five of its 11 3-point attempts in the first half and seven in the game.

Wright said his team had a "tough first half" despite building a 46-25 halftime lead.

"Just got getting to it, getting to some steals and getting to some passes we needed to, not covering shooters like we needed to," Wright said. "Just not in the flow of it like we should have got. The second half we kind of got going in the flow of it a little bit. It worked out a little bit better, some of the things we did, and we changed it up a little bit. It helped."

SCC has forced a running clock in each of its postseason games, holding at least a 30-point lead during the fourth quarter.

"It feels good," senior Reggie Woodson said. "We're about to go celebrate, have some fun. It feels real good. It feels good to get back in the championship."

SCC will face Dadeville (31-1), which defeated La Plata (29-2) 65-52 in Thursday's other semifinal.

SCC beat Dadeville 86-53 in their state semifinal meeting last season.

The Bearcats are led by senior guard Zachary Medley, who averages 19.5 points a game, and 6-foot-4 senior forward Dakota Webb, who averages 17.9 points, nine rebounds and 4.4 assists.

Jefferson 15 10 7 10 -- 42

SCC 26 20 25 7 -- 78

JEFFERSON (42) -- Troy McQuinn 3, Jacob Stoll 6, Norbert Henry 9, Clayton Schieber 7, Colton Holtman 8, Zachary Jermain 7, Charles Miller 2. FG 15, F 9, FT 5-9. (3-pointers: McQuinn 1, Stoll 2, Henry 2, Schieber 1, Jermain 1. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (78) -- Stewart Johnson 6, Trey Johnson 7, Otto Porter 34, Dominique Porter 10, Calvin Porter 4, Reggie Woodson 10, Lamarcus Steward 2, Bryan Freed 2, Tyrell Avance 3. FG 35, F 12, FT 6-7. (3-pointers: T. Johnson 1, Avance 1. Fouled out: none)