Saturday, December 2, 2017

O.I.T. Champions!

The Oran Eagles boys basketball team ended a 45 year drought last night by winning their namesake tournament for the first time since 1972.  The top-seeded Eagles defeated the upset-minded third-seeded Advance Hornets 66-60.

The Eagles trailed most of the first half and were down 35-28 at the break.  They were down by as many as 10 during the third before rallying and taking the lead in the third before the quarter ended tied at 49, heading into the final eight minutes.

It was a back and forth fourth.

Jacob Shoemaker scored 15 of his game-high 36 during the last period to help the Eagles to the six-point win.  Oran hit only 10-21 free throws on the night (48%) but hit 6 of 10 down the stretch.

Todd Priggel finished with 13.

Cole Priggel, who was injured at the end of the first half and had to be helped off the court, had eight points.

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I was very pleased with our ability to battle through adversity when Cole went down.  We were able to stay focused and played with a lot of intensity." As of this posting we do know that nothing was broken.  Tyson Goodale scored four off the bench.  Drew Reischman added three.  Layne Johnson chipped in two.

Shoemaker added, "On the offensive end we were able to find the hot shooter and knock some shots down. This team really doesn’t care who scores as long as we score. I also thought we rebounded on the offensive end a little better in the second half.   We have to shoot better from the free throw line in the future and have some other mistakes to work on Monday in practice before we play Risco who is another tough team. I also want to thank the crowd and Pep club for bringing a lot of energy and atmosphere to the game."

Shoemaker, Johnson and Cole Priggel were named to the All-Tournament team.  The Oran cheerleading squad won the spirit award.

In other action #2 Malden defeated #4 Scott County Central 84-64 in the 3rd place game and #5 Chaffee beat #6 Kelly 62-29 in the consolation final.

The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday when they host the Risco Tigers in what is becoming a pretty good rivalry.




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