Scott County (Ky.) overcame weariness with a stingy defense to defeat Miami Senior 61-49 to win the consolation championship of the Beach Ball Classic on Saturday for the second time in three years.
“It was our fourth game in four days against some outstanding competition and it was really a battle,” Scott County coach Billy Hicks said. “I thought both of us went in hard defensively and at the end I think both teams got really tired and it was hard to make shots.”
In the first half, the Cardinals held the Stingarees to 4-of-18 shooting from the field, 0-for-5 from behind the arc and forced nine turnovers.
“We wanted to get some pressure on the ball in the passing lanes,” Hicks said. “We wanted to cause some turnovers and we did. They had a hard time scoring on us in the first half.”
Scott County held a 31-17 halftime lead, but Miami Senior came out strong, going on a 10-2 run to close the gap on the Cardinals. However, the Stingarees could never overtake Scott County, which also won the consolation bracket title in 2009.
“I just felt like we had to finish strong,” Hicks said. “We wanted to jump out on them in the beginning of the second half and they jumped on us, and from then on, we knew it was going to be battle.”
The Cardinals outrebounded the Stingarees 38-25 and outscored them 26-18 in the paint, which was a difference maker in the game.
“We kept the ball in front of us and when they shot, we were in position to get rebounds,” Hicks said. “We rotated down and we kept good position under the basket on defense and we had to take the drive away from them.”
Senior Isaiah Ivey led Scott County in scoring with 16 points and Hicks credits him for controlling the tempo on offense.
“We didn’t have him the first two games here and it would have been very hard to win the last two games with out him,” Hicks said. “So that’s how much he means to our team. He can score against good teams and some of our other guys can’t do that.
“He can put the ball in the basket so we needed him out there.”
Senior Jorge Milo scored a team-high 13 points and junior Allen Baez contributed with 12 for Miami Senior.
• MIAMI SENIOR (49) – Adriel Jimenez 9, Jeffrey Thomas 6, Jorge Milo 13, Allen Baez 12, Rashad Thompkins 5, Eduardo Rijos 2, Yorday Villalon 2
• SCOTT COUNTY (61) – Quinn Richardson 2, Trenton Gilbert 13, Josh Harris 10, Isaiah Ivey 16, Tameron Manning 9, Jalen Haddix 7, Seth Crank 2, Andrew Short 2
| Miami Senior | 17 | 32 | – | 49 |
| Scott County | 31 | 30 | – | 61 |
• 3-point goals: Miami Senior 3 (Jimenez, Milo 2); Scott County 2 (Gilbert, Ivey). Team fouls: Miami Senior 22, Scott County 24. Fouled out: Richardson, Harris, Haddix. Technical fouls: None.
• Records: Miami Senior (12-3); Scott County (12-3).
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