Scott County knocks off Lafayette 58-50 in 11th Region semifinals

11th Region tournament bracket

Coming into the season, a talented crop of underclassmen seemed to ensure a bright future for Scott County. After a gritty second-half performance in Saturday’s 11th Region semifinals, it appears the future is now for the Cardinals.

Trailing 32-22 at the half, the Cardinals dialed up their defense and played with a level of maturity that belied their years, outscoring Lafayette 36-18 the rest of the way to knock off the Generals 58-50 and grab a spot in Monday’s championship game.

Freshman forward and future Mr. Basketball candidate Michael Moreno keyed the comeback. He dominated the paint in the second half, pulling down 13 of his game-high 22 rebounds and swatting all six of his blocked shots.

He also gave Scott County its first lead, which it never relinquished. Grabbing a rebound and finding sophomore guard Cooper Robb on the fast break, Moreno raced into the frontcourt and turned a nifty assist from Robb into a layup, putting the Cardinals ahead 43-42. The basket prompted an eruption from the Scott County fans and a timeout from Lafayette Coach Mike Mendenhall.

“Michael Moreno had a ton of blocks and he just played great inside,” Scott County Coach Billy Hicks said. “He’s just a heck of a basketball player. They come along like that every now and then and you just enjoy them while you have them.”

Moreno said defense was the focus of Hicks’ halftime directions, and the team took the message to heart. The Cardinals scored one more point in the third quarter than Lafayette did the entire half, giving up just 18 points on 4-of-29 shooting.

“Their shooters have been hot all week, so we knew we had to work on containing them,” Moreno said. “We had to come out and put a mindset to our defense that we can’t let them have any baskets and we did a good job.”

Moreno shut down Lafayette’s interior scoring with two blocks down the stretch, and the Cardinals steadily pulled away from the Generals, who appeared gassed in the fourth quarter.

“We were really embarrassed at halftime,” Hicks said of his team’s 13-turnover first half. “We just played so bad. But give Lafayette credit, they got after us and made us look like a young and inexperienced team. But we had a chance to regroup a little bit because our guys were embarrassed.”

Robb and Clem Damron joined Moreno in double figures with 10 points each. Robb added four assists and five steals.

Evan Dreux kept Lafayette in the game after keying their first-half lead. He led the Generals with 14 points and snagged eight steals. Cameron Greenup added 13 points and three steals.

Scott County will look to punch its first Sweet Sixteen ticket since 2012 on Monday night.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Scott County knocks off Lafayette 58-50 in 11th Region semifinals."