Scott City boys basketball team succumbs to New Madrid County Central's rally

~ Scott City lost an 11-point advantage in the fourth quarter and fell 64-60

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- The New Madrid Country Central boys basketball team trailed Scott City by two points when coach Travis Day was called for a technical foul with 36 seconds to go in the third quarter Tuesday night.

That meant Day had to try to stay seated as he watched his team fall behind by double digits midway through the fourth quarter before rallying back for a 64-60 victory.

"My assistant coach and players kept holding me down," Day said with a smile after the game. "That was the biggest thing. I kept wanting to jump up, and they held me back down."

Scott City (13-6) went on an 8-0 run after the technical was called and led 52-41 with 4 minutes, 16 seconds left in the game.

"The thing is, a good team, you know they're going to make a run," Day said about Scott City. "It's one of those that you're just trying to wait for when it's going to come. The thing is, we didn't get rattled when they made the run. That's what I like on our behalf, that when they made the run, we kept our composure. That's what we needed. We needed a game like this where a team could make a run and we don't lose our heads."

The Eagles went on a 7-0 run from that point, capped by an improbable, falling-down make by New Madrid County Central's DeModdre Wilson after an offensive rebound.

"We finally crashed the boards," Day said. "Usually we're the team that don't get a lot of offensive rebounds, but we made that a focal point where when we shoot we've got to have three-and-a-half guys go to the boards, and we did that a lot this game."

The Eagles got another offensive rebound and putback, something they did throughout the game, to tie the game at 58-58 with 50 seconds to go.

"We did a terrible job rebounding," Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "I mean, it was awful. We were so soft around the rim, and I don't know what it was. I thought we played really, really hard, but I thought on the defensive end we'd play really good defense, and then we'd just negate it all by giving up an offensive board. We were just soft around the rim for some reason."

Landon Robert, who scored 12 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, made one of two free throws on Scott City's next possession. Lemonta Nelson then made two for New Madrid County Central.

"We ran a couple sets for him and our kids did a good job of setting screens for him," Dannenmueller said about Robert. "A couple of those he just created on his own going to the hole and had a couple pull-ups. We were running some sets for him, though. I think that kind of got him going."

Scott City senior Zach Cotner made a basket inside with 12.5 seconds to go, but he was called for an offensive foul and the points did not count.

Nelson missed two free throws on the Eagles' next possession, but Scott City's Ryan Brock was called for a travel after grabbing a rebound on the second miss.

Dannenmueller vehemently protested both calls on the sideline but was diplomatic after the game.

"We should've never even been in that position," Dannenmueller said. "When you miss free throws -- and we had missed block outs on free throws. We should've never even been in that position. When you put somebody in a position to make a call like that, that's what usually happens, so it was our own fault. We make our shots and we make our free throws, then we win the game."

Nelson, who led New Madrid County Central with 17 points, made two more free throws with 3.1 seconds left to seal the victory.

"He had a game where we lost in this situation because he missed two free throws like that," Day said, talking about the Eagles' overtime loss against Jackson at the SEMO Conference tournament earlier this season. "I told him, I said, ‘You'll get another chance one day to do that.' He had another chance, and he stepped up and knocked them down."

NMCC 14 11 10 29 -- 64

Scott City 9 11 21 19 -- 60

NMCC (64) -- Earl Grissom 5, Lamonta Nelson 17, Willie Jimmerson 9, JaShawn McDaniel 12, Brandon Ray 2, C.J. Chism 7, Armondo Thatch 5, Darin McGlosan 8. FG 24, F 23, FT 11-18 (3-pointers: Nelson 3, Jimmerson 1, McDaniel 2. Fouled out: none)

Scott City (60) -- Landon Robert 23, Jesse Sanders 11, Tyler Adams 2, Jonathan McFall 6, Zach Cotner 17, Ryan Brock 1. FG 23, F 18, FT 12-19. (3-pointers: Robert 2. Fouled out: Robert)