2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Scott County Central returns to consolation finals for first time since 2018

Scott County Central's Asher Britt leaps for a contested shot against Oran in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 28, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

By defeating Oran 59-54 in overtime on Thursday, Dec. 28 at the Show Me Center, Scott County Central has reached the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament consolation finals for the first time since 2018.

In a game where nothing was given, free throws made the difference. The Eagles made 5-of-14 free throws while the Braves found themselves on the line twice as much, going 16-of-31 from the charity stripe. In overtime alone, Scott County Central went 6-of-12 from the free-throw line.

"It seems like every halftime I got to harp on free throws," Scott County Central coach Tim Carlisle said. "I had to do the math on the board. We were leaving this many points out there that could be ours. But it seems like in the third and fourth quarters when the game is on the line are we're playing a close game, we step up and shoot clutch free throws."

Four Braves players scored in double digits but it was Asher Britt who led the way with 15 points. As a senior, Britt has been around for all the growing pains and is now starting to see the fruits of his team’s labor.

“It just means a lot because these last couple years we’ve been working hard but haven’t been able to get over the hump,” Britt said. “This year to finally get over the hump has been really great.”

This has been a much different Braves team than recent years. Their last winning season was 2018-19 when they last won the consolation title. The last time they won 10 games was 2021-22. It’s not yet New Year’s Day and the Braves have two more wins than last season.

"This group right here is very coachable," Carlisle said. "They can take some criticism and move forward and learn from it, so that's huge."

The Braves entered the tournament as the No. 13 seed despite a 4-3 record. They came up short against No. 4 Notre Dame in the first round but won against Meadow Heights on Wednesday and Oran on Thursday.

“It just proves our seed doesn’t represent you,” Britt said. “We took those early losses, which probably reflected why we got a low seed but we know that’s not reflective of what we are. We know how good we are and what we can do.”

After scoring only eight points in the first quarter, the Braves erupted with 20 points in the second quarter to take a 28-27 halftime lead behind Zavior Mize, who scored seven of his 12 points in the period.

After a 6-4 third quarter that led to Oran leading 33-32, the two teams traded blows in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

Namarius Banks-Warren sealed the win for the Braves with a buzzer beating layup in overtime. He finished with 13 points, and Cortavian Banks rounded out the double-digit scorers for Scott County Central with 10.

Eli Shoemaker led the Eagles with 20 points, followed by 12 points from Nolan Loper and 11 from Carson Kern.

Scott County Central will take on Bell City for ninth place on Saturday, Dec. 30.

"It's building blocks for the future," Carlisle said. "We have all the potential in the world to go out and play hard-nosed basketball. I think right now we're a little inconsistent and once we figure out how to play hard-nosed for 32 minutes, we're gonna be just fine."

Britt said winning the consolation title this weekend would be a major confidence boost going into conference play.

“Coming from last year winning four games to almost doubling it within the first three weeks and getting a consolation championship heading into conference play,” Britt said, “it’s gonna be really good cause we’re gonna need it.”

NO. 13 SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL 59, NO. 9 ORAN 54

Scott County Central (59) — Asher Britt 15, Namarius Banks-Warren 13, Zavior Mize 12, Cortavion Banks 10, Courtney Sanders III 5, Ty Murray 3, Cameron Bean 1. FG: 20. (3-pointers: Mize 2, Banks 1)

Oran (54) — Eli Shoemaker 20, Nolan Loper 12, Carson Kern 11, Carson Senciboy 7, Kole Burger 4. FG: 21. (3-pointers: Shoemaker 4, Loper 2, Burger 1)