Eagles split at East Prairie

The Oran Junior High School boys basketball teams hit the road last night to take on Scott-Mississippi conference rival East Prairie. The 7th grade team took a lead into the fourth quarter but ended up losing 31-27.  The 8th graders were down after three but mounted a huge comeback during the last 6 minutes to pick up a 48-45 victory.

During game 1, East Prairie jumped out early 8-4, after the first quarter.  Oran cut the lead to a single point 13-12, at the break.  The Eagles were on top 23-19 heading into the final period.  The hosts, however, used a 12-4 margin to snatch away the game.

East Prairie is the number one seed in the upcoming conference tournament.  Oran is the three seed.

Head coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I was proud of the effort from the 7th grade but we had too many turnovers in the 4th quarter that gave them easy layups.  We will have to play better in the tournament."

Samuel Shoemaker scored 10 for the visitors.  Nick Romas added 6, Seth Cauble chipped in 5, Robby Menz had 4, while Kolton Payne scored 2.

Landon Cochran played but did not score.

Oran was only 2 of 6 from the line for 33%.

The nightcap saw the Eagles down big early, trailing 16-8 after the initial frame, and they were still down by 8 heading into the fourth 36-28.  Oran exploded for 20 during the last 6 minutes and held East Prairie to 9 for the hard fought 3 point win.

Coach Shoemaker told the blog, "The 8th grade missed a ton of layups early and had to play from behind but they never gave up and were able to get the win."

Oran is the number two seed in the conference tournament while East Prairie got the fifth seed.

Ty Johnson scored a career-high 30 points, 9 in the fourth quarter.  He hit 3 from beyond the arc.

Drew Smith hit for 7 points, including a trey.  Shoemaker had 5 off the bench, all in the final period.  Dane Shands added 4 and Keaton Stepp chipped in 2.

Kaleb Gosche and Waylon Shaffer both played.

The Eagles were 12 of 24 from the charity stripe for 50%.

The 7th grade is now 2-3 in the league and 8-3 overall, the 8th grade is 5-0 and 9-2, respectively.

The squads will be close out the regular season on Thursday when they travel to Delta.  Game time is 6 pm.  The 7th grade will play only two quarters.  Delta's 8th grade team is the number one seed in the conference tournament that begins Saturday.  Delta will not have a 7th grade team in the event.