With 27-year coaching veteran Ronnie Cookson sitting to their right, Scott County Central underclassmen Bobby Hatchett and Drew Thomas played the part of wise sages during Wednesday's post-game press conference.

After watching Jefferson shoot nearly 60 percent from the floor, Thomas was dumbfounded.

"A couple of people hit some shots that we didn't know could shoot like that," the junior said.

Despite 23 Jefferson turnovers, Hatchett showed his respect for the Eagles' press-breaking abilities, which included heavy ball-handling for 6-foot-7 Doug Archer and 6-foot-3, rotund Kevin Moffat.

"That was some people we didn't know could handle the ball like that," Hatchett said.

Both young men were right.

Jefferson put up 70 points with four starters scoring in double figures, while the fifth -- Moffat -- adding nine. Even freshman Jacob Stoll hit two big-time 3-pointers in the first half on his way to 10 points.

That goes back to SCC's other assessment.

Jefferson hit five 3s in the first half, shooting a torrid 51.9 percent. The talk around the press row centered around how well Jefferson shot during those first 16 minutes and what a huge difference it made.

Uh-oh. Better check that stat sheet again.

The Eagles made 12 of 18 shots from the field in the second half, good for a 57.8 percent clip.

But the shots only came as a result of steady, methodical work in the backcourt to break SCC's press, which came regardless of the outcome of each Braves' possession.

But Archer, Moffat and 6-4 Craig Mattson used a distinct height advantage to their benefit. Yes, the Eagles allowed SCC to make 20 steals on their 23 turnovers. But they also poked holes in that supposedly infallible press.

Which sent SCC's Thomas searching for answers again.

"They were just looking over us, picking us apart," Thomas said.

Other thoughts:

--- Two of SCC's leading scorers, senior D.D. Gillespie and Hatchett, each picked up three fouls in the first half before drawing No. 4 during the third quarter. It limited the pair to 48 combined minutes, but even without them for much of the third, SCC rallied behind Thomas and led for much of the second half.

The question remains: what would've happened with those players in the rhythm of the game more. It's hard to tell, but Gillespie did miss the two critical free throws with 1.5 seconds left to assure Jefferson's win.

The game seemed fairly officiated, but the Braves said they saw some foul calls they were unaccustomed to seeing during the regular season.

"We had to adjust to the officiating. It was real hard when they call reaches like that," Hatchett said.

--- The mosports.com message board lit up with talk about the Jefferson-SCC matchup this week. By the conversations, it seemed to be the most anticipated matchup or even potential matchup for this week's small school state tournament.

The game didn't disappoint, and Jefferson's players apparently were aware of some of the talk leading into the game.

Many posters on mosports believed SCC's athletic ability would wear down Jefferson and turnovers would cripple the Eagles.

Instead, Jefferson came out with a 7-0 run and showed an intensity I hadn't seen from them this year.

"We heard the talk and everything. We just tried to use that as extra fire for the game," Archer said.

--- SCC's Cookson lost for the first time in a state semifinal, an amazing 13-0 entering Wednesday. The Braves had 12 state titles plus one runner-up finish in 1994.

For a guy with so much success, the admittedly hard-of-hearing coach didn't seem to mind the setback.

"Third or fourth ain't bad. That's what I'm saying," Cookson said.

--- Talk turned to Jefferson coach Tim Jermain's wardrobe toward the end of Jefferson's post-game question-and-answer session.

The question was posed whether Jermain wore the same short-sleeve blue dress shirt with a familiar yellow necktie during his team's four-year run as state semifinalists.

"I think so. I'm not superstitious though," Jermain said between chuckles.