Just a little over a week after the Oran High School girls basketball teams claimed Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament championships in both the varsity and junior varsity divisions, the boys teams had an opportunity to accomplish the same feat. Unfortunately, the junior varsity fell just short, losing to East Prairie 46-45. The varsity made it 3 out of 4 titles with a 62-55 win over East Prairie.
The jv championship game was close throughout. Oran was down by one after the first, 11-10 and at the half, 21-20. The contest was tied at 31 heading into the final seven minutes.
Oran had the final possession of the game. Ty Johnson, who led the team with 16, including three shots made from beyond the arc, was able to get off a contested shot just before the buzzer, but it rattled out and the younger Eagles had to settle for the second place plaque.
Langdon Scheeter and Dane Shands both scored eight. Both hit two three-pointers. Tristin Schlosser added six. Myles Trankler had four points while Cooper Priggel hit a trey for his three points.
They hit 7 of 9 free throw attempts for 78%.
They are now 10-3. It was the second tournament runner-up finish of the season. They finished the Advance JV tournament with the same outcome.
Coach Chris Nichols said, "In the first half I thought our kids struggled to keep East Prairie in front allowing them too many shots at the rim. We didn't rebound which allowed them too many second-chance shots. When we moved the ball and made our cuts on offense we were able to score. In the second half, we moved back our pressure which seemed to help but we still allowed too many shots at the rim.
I give our kids credit. They really worked hard no matter what the score was and continue to battle we just came up a little short. I hope this is a learning lesson that will make us a better team in the end. We will correct our mistakes Monday in practice and see what happens Tuesday at Oak Ridge."
In the varsity match-up, Oran jumped out early but had to hang on as East Prairie scraped and clawed their way back into it.
Oran led 23-13 after one and 34-21 at halftime.
Once again, however, the Eagles came out of the break sluggish. East Prairie roared back to cut the margin to five at 36-31. Oran was able to regain momentum to finish the quarter on a 10-4 run.
That 11 point lead wasn't safe though as the Mississippi County Eagles cut the deficit to four on a couple of occasions. Oran hit only 4 of 11 free throws during the fourth, but it was enough for the Eagles to end a five-game losing streak to East Prairie and win its first Scott-Miss tourney title since 2013.
Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I thought it was a tough hard fought win. It was a total team effort and I am proud of the boys. I would like to give credit to everyone on the team. We were able to keep our composure and answer their runs in the second half."
Jacob Shoemaker had a game-high 22. He hit two 3-pointers. Todd Priggel had 17 and Layne Johnson finished with 16, including one trey.
Cole Priggel had six, before fouling out late in the game. Drew Rieschman had one field goal.
Oran was 9 of 18 at the charity stripe for 50%.
The Eagles improved 14-3 and won a tournament for the second time this season, after winning the O.I.T. earlier.
The teams will next play on Tuesday when they travel Oak Ridge to take on their conference rival Blue Jays at 6 pm.
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