Eagles lose to Woodland in Christmas Tourney opener

It was a quick 7-0 start by the Oran Eagles last night as they looked to pull an upset of the the 8th seeded Woodland Cardinals. Oran, the number nine seed, was unable to hang on however and fell 80-72.

The Eagles led 16-13 after the first quarter and following  a 5-1 run to start the second, Oran was up by seven again at 21-14. The Cardinals hit three straight threes to take the lead. After that, the two teams traded baskets until just before half-time when Woodland took a five point lead 38-33.

Opening the second half, the Eagles scored first to cut the lead to 3. But then turnovers allowed a 6-0 Woodland run and forced an Oran time out trailing 44-35 with just under a minute gone in the quarter. The Eagles went on their on six point run and trimmed the deficit back to 3 with just over 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd at 44-41. Woodland outscored Oran 16-7 the rest of the period, however, to take a 12 point lead into the final frame.

Oran trailed by 5 with 1:47 remaining at 73-68 but could get no closer.

The Eagles were led by Jacob Shoemaker, who scored 20 including Oran's only two treys.  Cole Priggel had 18, Garrison Mangels had 15, while Max Priggel added 10.

Layne Johnson chipped in 5.  Preston Hahn and Drew Reischman each scored 2.

The Eagles were in foul trouble most of the night.  Oran was whistled for 29 fouls and had four starters disqualified; Max Priggel, Cole Priggel, Shoemaker and Mangels.

But the Eagles shot well from the free throw line to help their cause, they were 24 of 31 for 77%.

Woodland was called for 20 personals  and they were 21 for 34 for 62% from the line.  They were 14 of 22 during the final 8 minutes for 64%.

Oran was 13 of 16 at the stripe during the fourth, as the Eagles took the ball aggressively to the hoop, for 81%.

Both team hit 21 2-point field goals and Oran outscored the Cardinals from the charity stripe by three.  The difference was from beyond the arc where Woodland hit 6 and the Eagles 2.

Oran will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 when they take on winless Delta.  The Eagles, currently 3-5, will have an opportunity to defend last year's consolation championship

Oran defeated Delta 75-27 on December 18 at Delta.

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Photos courtesy of Michael Stevens