Eagles finish fourth in tournament

For the second year in a row, the Oran High School boys basketball team has finished fourth in their
namesake tournament.  Last night the Eagles lost to the Malden Green Wave 55-41 to fall just short of claiming a trophy.

Oran fell behind early, trailing by nine, 17-8 after the first quarter.  In the next eight minutes, though, the Eagles fought back to within two points, 27-25, at the half.  Layne Johnson and Jacob Shoemaker both hit two treys during the period to help lead the comeback.

The third quarter was a totally different story, however.

In the previous two games, Oran had come out after the intermission on fire.  Against Bell City, they had sealed their victory with a 21-10 margin.  Then, during their loss to Scott Central on Thursday, they had gotten back into the game by outscoring the Braves 18-9.  Last night, though, Malden threw a shut-out for 7:59 until Max Priggel hit a buzzer-beating three for the Eagles' only points of the frame.

After three, for all intents and purposes, the game was over as Oran trailed by 16, 44-28.

The fourth saw the Eagles try to rally but never got the lead down to single digits.  They cut the margin by two, overall, for the 14 point loss.

Afterwards, Head Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "We had another game where we played well in spurts and really bad in spurts. When we get to where we can put all four quarters together we will be better off."

Oran was led in scoring by Shoemaker who had 13 including three from beyond the arc.  Layne Johnson also reached double-digits with 11, two from long range.

Garrison Mangels added 7, Priggel scored 6 with the one from distance.  Preston Hahn and Cole Priggel each chipped in two

Once again the Eagles had to foul late to try to get back into the game which led to a huge free throw advantage for the Green Wave. Overall Malden shot 15 of 27 for 56% including 9 of 18 for 50% in the final period.  In fact, Malden only hit one field goal during the last eight minutes, with the rest coming from the line.  Oran, on the other hand, was only 3 of 7 on the night for 43%.

The Eagles fell to 1-2 on the year and will host Risco on Tuesday at 6 pm.

What the professionals are saying:  seMissourian