Eagles fall to Braves

The fourth-seeded Oran Eagles had a chance to topple the top-seeded Scott County Central Braves
last night in their semi-final match up during the Oran Invitational Tournament, but it wasn't in cards as Oran fell 58-49.

The Eagles scored first on a field goal by Garrison Mangels, but trailed 12-9 after one.  The Braves looked to be enroute to a blow out when they expanded their lead to 30-18 at the half.

Once again, however, Oran came out after half-time and controlled the third quarter.  This time it was freshman Jacob Shoemaker that took over on the offensive end.  Shoemaker hit 13 of his team-high 24 points during the period as the Eagles out scored Scott County 18-9 to reduce to the deficit back to three, 39-36.

About two minutes into the final frame, another Mangels bucket tied the score at 41.  Oran managed a small advantage on a couple of occasions after that but the Braves regained the lead and the Eagles were forced to foul down the stretch. Scott Central made the most of that as they scored 11 of their 19 fourth quarter points from the charity stripe and dealt the hosts a loss.

Shoemaker was the only Oran player to reach double digits with his 24.  On the night he hit six from beyond the arc including three during the third period. Mangles and Layne Johnson each had 9.  Johnson had one from long range.

Max Priggel totaled 3 before fouling out late. Preston Hahn and Cole Priggel both added 2.

The Eagles actually out scored the Braves from the field 47-39 but a huge disparity at the line, which in part could be contributed to Oran fouling late to try to get back into it, that saw Scott County make 19 of 39.  Oran was 2 for 5.

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I was proud of our effort but not satisfied with the results.  Playing against a team like Scott County showed us some areas that we have to improve on. We battled back but didn't execute well enough late to get the win."

The Eagles will take on the Malden Green Wave tonight in the 3rd place game at 6:30 pm.  Last year these two teams met in a semi-final game and Malden came out on top 70-63.

What the professionals are saying:  seMissourian