Last night, arguably, the top two 7th and 8th grade teams in the Scott-Mississippi conference met in Oran.The Eagles hosted the Delta Bobcats with first place on the line.
In the seventh grade game, Delta jumped out early and withstood a couple of Oran runs and the Eagles fell 50-40.
The eighth grade game was a back and forth affair, with a second half come-back and Oran sealing the game late, picking up a 49-43 victory.
Game one saw the Eagles fall behind 13-0 midway through the first quarter before Oran went on an 8-0 run to close out the period trailing 13-8. After scoring the first basket in the second, the Eagles were down by only three, 13-10. Delta scored the next seven. At half-time Oran trailed 22-15.
With 2:36 left in the third, the Eagles were down 33-15 after an 11 point run to start the half by the Bobcats. It was 38-26 heading into the final period. The final margin was 10.
Ty Johnson led all scorers with 24, he hit 3 from beyond the arc and was 3-4 from the line. Kaden Hargrove also reached double-digits with 10. He had a trey and was also 3-4 from the charity stripe
Kaleb Gosche, Dane Shands and Drew Smith each chipped in 2 points.
Oran was 6-9 from the line for 67%.
Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "In the 7th grade game Delta did a good job of forcing us to shoot jump shots instead of layups. We didn't shoot a very high percentage on those jump shots which hurt us. We also struggled on the defensive boards and gave them too many second chance opportunities. It is usually a formula for a loss when you don't shoot the ball very well and give up a lot of second chance points. We have two more games and the conference tournament left so that will give us some time to work on these."
They are now 3-1 in conference play and 9-3 overall.
In the night cap, the Eagles were set on avenging two losses to Delta last year.
It was a game that had a play-off atmosphere, Delta brought a large and vocal contingent and a performance by Oran's cheerleaders added to the home team's attendance.
After several momentum swings in first quarter, the Eagles were up by one 16-15 but big mo was on the Bobcats' side at that point and Delta led 25-20 midway through the second and it was 27-23 at half.
It took just under two minutes for Oran to regain the lead in the third period. At the 4:03 mark, the Eagles were up 30-29. The teams exchanged buckets over the rest of the quarter and Oran led 36-35 heading into the final six minutes.
A quick three by the Bobcats, who hit six from long-range (5 in the first half), and Delta was on top. Oran scored the next four and the 'Cats took a time out with 3:27 to go. At the 2:10 mark it was 44-40 Oran when Delta took their next time out.
Even though the Eagles were only 1-5 in the fourth from the line, Oran was able to hang on.
Perhaps the most important free throw of the night, was a miss by Todd Priggel late in that final quarter. Tyson Goodale was able to get around the man assigned to block him out and grab the rebound. Even though the put-back missed, Priggel was able to charge down the lane and convert the miss into a 2 point basket.
Priggel hit for 19, he had the lone three-pointer for Oran. Landon Stanberry scored 13 and he was 3-4 from the line.
Oran was only 4-11 from the charity stripe for 36%
Gabe Fox and Goodale both scored 6. Jakob Findley added 5 before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Delta also struggled from the line going 5-14 overall and 5-12 in the fourth.
The eighth grade Eagles kept their conference mark perfect at 4-0 and overall they improved to 11-1.
Coach Shoemaker noted, "It was a very close game throughout. We shot free throws poorly which usually makes a difference in close games but we were able to get enough offensive rebounds and put backs along with some points off of steals to make up for the poor free throw shooting. We also made an adjustment at half time on how we were going to guard their pick and roll without leaving their outside shooters. They had 5 threes in the first half and only 1 in the second which was their only field goal in the fourth quarter. To my knowledge (which isn’t always correct - just ask my wife), Delta's 8th grade hasn't ever been beaten in junior high so it was a big accomplishment for us to get the win. I know we may play them again in the conference tournament at Delta, but we have to focus on our next two games and continue to improve in practice."
The junior high boys will be back in action next Monday when they travel to Chaffee for a 6 pm conference contest against the Red Devils.
Thank you Michael Stevens for the photos!
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