Beavers cage Eagles in sub-state opener

It could be said that as Ron Baker goes, so go the Scott Community High School boy’s basketball team.

The junior guard scored 16 of his game high 24 points in the opening period as the Beavers cruised to a 76-57 win over Colby in the opening round of Class 4A sub-state tournament play on Tuesday night.

With the win, SCHS (15-6) will face Cheney (18-3) in the semi-finals at Kingman on Friday. Cheney, which defeated SCHS in last year’s sub-state championship game, was a 68-48 winner over Clearwater.

The game was never in doubt after Scott City built an early 13 point lead. They never trailed by less than seven points the remainder of the first half and led by as many as 27 in the second half.

“We set the tempo we wanted,” says head coach Glenn O’Neil. “We didn’t want Colby to slow down the pace of the game. We knew they would struggle with the faster tempo.”

That was evident with 18 first half turnovers by the Eagles and a number of transition baskets. The defense is triggered not just by Scott City’s ability to deflect balls in the passing lanes, but in their hustle.

“I think anyone appreciates it when they see boys diving on the floor for loose balls and when they deflect balls to their teammates,” says O’Neil.

Baker feels the team’s intensity level - and success - begins on defense.

“At the defensive end, we do a good job of staying active, getting deflections and setting up our transition game,” says Baker, who also finished with 10 steals and three blocked shots.

Baker certainly made it look easy against the Eagles, scoring the game’s first seven points, including a trey and a steal that led to a layup. By the time the junior had knocked down his second three-point basket of the night the Beavers were on top, 15-3, and Colby had already spent two of its timeouts.

He had 16 points in the scorebook by the end of the opening period as the Beavers owned a 23-13 lead. After that, Baker was content with distributing the ball to his teammates while collecting four assists.

After building a 26-13 advantage following freshman guard Brett O’Neil’s three-point play to start the second period, the Beavers saw that lead shrink to just seven points with 4:14 remaining in the half. They re-established control of the game with a 9-0 scoring run prior to the intermission.

A strong start to the second half squashed any hopes Colby had of a comeback.

Senior forward Austin Davis, who finished with 14 points and four rebounds, completed a three-point play that put the Beavers on top 49-28 just three minutes into the third period. That was soon followed by an alley-oop pass from O’Neil to Baker who laid the ball into the basket.

Scott City’s biggest lead of the night followed a 9-2 scoring spree to open the final period. Sophomore guard Braeden Robinson drilled a trey, giving him 10 points for the night. That was followed by senior forward Jorden Funk who bulled his way through the paint for the last of his nine points that extended the SCHS lead to 72-45.