Scott County Central boys basketball team reaches conference tournament final

ORAN, Mo. -- Dalton Huffman's layup under the basket gave the fifth-seeded Kelly Hawks an 8-6 lead over the top-seeded Scott County Central Braves almost three minutes in the first quarter of Thursday's Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament game, but the lead was short-lived.

After SCC coach Frank Staple called a timeout following Huffman's basket, the Braves closed the quarter on a 23-5 run and cruised to a 85-49 victory in a semifinal at Oran High School.

"I just reminded them how we have to play to win," SCC coach Frank Staple said. "Give credit to Kelly. It was a good, physical game, and that program is on the rise. *... We just had to try and play harder, and I thought we did that and were able to spread out a little bit."

The Braves (14-4) will take on No. 3 Oran at 8:30 p.m. today in the championship game. The Eagles defeated second-seeded Scott City 70-37 in Tuesday's second semifinal.

"We just want to come out a little bit more focused than we were tonight," Staple said. "It's going to be a physical game. We've just got to match the intensity of whoever we play, and if we can do that, I think we'll be in a good position."

SCC outscored Kelly 32-14 in the second quarter to extend its lead to 61-27 at halftime. Jeffery Porter finished with a game-high 22 points to lead the Braves. Matt Blissett added 18 points, while Tyus Banks (11), Skylar Lemons (11) and Javonta Daniel also reached double figures for the Braves.

Dalton Huffman finished with a team-high 13 points to lead the Hawks (6-11).

"Scott County's a great team," Kelly coach Ryan Garnett said. "They're No. 1 in our conference for a reason. They're traditionally a great team. They're champions. They do it day in and day out. Our approach to the game was simply to just compete. We wanted to compete the entire game, and it just shows how good they are."

Kelly will take on Scott City in the third-place game at 7 p.m. today.

"They feel pretty good about the way they battled," Garnett said about his team. "That's what we need here, as far as forming a tradition. *... We've got to turn the page because tomorrow we've got a great [Scott City] team that we also want to compete with."

Kelly 13 14 17 5 -- 49

SCC 29 32 12 12 -- 85

KELLY (49) -- Dalton Huffman 13, Maurice Davis 8, Ty Householder 7, Cayden Williams 6, Isai Campos 6, Jacob McClain 5, Conner Dittlinger 4. FG 16, FT 12-22, F 25. (3-pointers: Huffman 2, Williams 2, Campos 1. Fouled out: Dittlinger)

SCC (85) -- Jeffery Porter 22, Matt Blissett 18, Tyus Banks 11, Skylar Lemons 11, Javonta Daniel 10, Drake Kesler 7, Tre Moore 4. FG 26, FT 29-42, F 18. (3-pointers: Banks 2, Kesler 1, Lemons 1. Fouled out: none.)