Eagles open season with big win

Last year's Oran Eagle basketball team graduated three starters that accounted for the bulk of the scoring and rebounding from a team that finished 19-9 and ended it's season in the district championship game.  So, coming into tonight, there were lots of holes to fill.  And when the Eagles started a freshman and two sophomores to go with a junior and a senior to take on an up and coming Bell City Cubs team there was a lot of concern.

But it didn't take long to ease those worries as Oran jumped out early and was up 24-10 after one.  In that first period, a balanced scoring attack calmed a lot of nerves as freshman Jacob Shoemaker,
sophomore Layne Johnson and Senior Garrison Mangels eached dropped in six points.  Max Priggel, a junior, added four, while senior Preston Hahn added two free throws.  Johnson's points came on two from beyond the arc.

The Cubs cut the lead to singe digits in the second quarter, but a late flurry by Oran stretched the lead to 13, 34-21.

After the intermission, the Eagles scored the first 10 points to effectively seal the game.  During the period, sophomore Cole Priggel took over the game offensively for the Eagles, scoring 10 of his game-high 16.  Time after time he was able drive to the hole and finished strong.  The lead was 24 by the time the quarter ended.  Oran led 55-31.

The Eagles out-scored Bell City 13-8 in the final eight minutes to cruise to the 68-39 win.

Including  Cole Priggel's 16, the Eagles had a total of five players in double digits.  Johnson poured in 14.  Shoemaker had 12, including 2 for 2 from the line and 2 from beyond the three-point line. Mangels and Max Priggel each dropped in 10.

Preston Hahn chipped in 6, including 4 of 4 from the charity stripe.

Overall, Oran was 6 of 10 for 60% from the free throw line.

After the game, Eagle head coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I was proud of the effort and the way they played unselfish to start the year off with. We have several mistakes to work on during the next practice. I haven't watched the game film to do stats yet but we had way too many turnovers and some execution problems. Hopefully we will fix these issues as the year goes on."

They will be back in action Thursday evening when they take on number one seed Scott County Central at 6:30 pm.

Thank you Michael Stevens for the photos.

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