Eagles Dump Devils

A couple of weeks ago I heard a new (to me) phrase in regards to basketball.  I believe it was Clark Kellogg who talked about "spurtability".  Auto correct does not like the term but I do.  As he explained it, "spurtability" is the ability of a team or an individual to go on a scoring spurt or run to take over a game.  That concept came into play last night as the Oran High School basketball teams picked up 2 wins at conference rival Chaffee.  The junior varsity won 61-38, the varsity 72-22.

In the first game, the Eagles rode the hot shooting of Landon Stanberry, who scored 12 of his 16 points during the first 7 minutes, to lead 16-11.  That's a spurt.

The lead was 23-30 late in the second period when Oran went on an 8-0 run, another spurt,  to expand the lead to 11.  The Red Devils hit one from beyond half-court to cut the lead to 8, 31-23 at the halftime buzzer.

The hosts rode that momentum into the third and trailed by just 1, 33-32 late.  That's when we witnessed another spurt.   Todd Priggel hit a trey, then a couple of turnovers led to a couple of Tyson Goodale layups and the quarter ended with the Eagles up 40-34.

Oran's run continued into the fourth as the Eagles outscored Chaffee 21-4.

Goodale led all scorers with 19, 15 during the second half. Stanberry finished with 16, he made all 3 free throw attempts and also hit a trey.  Priggel scored 13 and also had a 3-pointer.

Calen Read added 6.  Jakob Findley, Kaiden Massey and Tristen Schlosser each hit a field goal.  Avery Mitchem made a free throw.  Karson Moyers played but did not score.

Oran was 5 of 8 at the free-throw line for 63%.

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "We struggled to get into a good rhythm early but kept battling.  We were able to string some stops together and get some separation in the second half and came away with a victory."

The junior varsity improved to 5-8 overall and 4-1 in Scott-Miss play.

The JV squad will not play again until next Tuesday at Bloomfield.

The nightcap saw the concept of  "spurtablity" right from the outset.  They spurted out to a 13-2 lead
less than 4 minutes into the game.  The Chaffee points came on 2 free-throws.  The Devils hit their first bucket at the 2:50 mark, it was 15-4.  After one the Eagles were up 26-6.

It was 48-9 at the intermission.  Oran hit 10 3's during the first 16 minutes.

The second half saw the lead expand as all 13 Eagles played and 11 scored.

Shoemaker said, "The varsity came out with a good start and I thought did a good job of being active on defense and rebounding.  This led to some easy baskets on the other end.  I was really pleased with how they passed the basketball and played unselfishly."

Max Priggel scored as many points as Chaffee did.  He poured in 22.  He drained 6 from beyond the arc.  Layne Johnson hit for 13 including 3 long range bombs.

Jacob Shoemaker hit a three as part of his 9 points.  Cole Priggel scored 8.  Wyatt Kinney, Bradley Brooks and Todd Priggel each had 4, while Luke Barnes, Denver Elfrink and Peyton McVay had 2 apiece.

William Kluesner and Joey Phillips played but did not score.

Kinney, Cole Priggel, Todd Priggel and Jacob Shoemaker were each 2-2 from the free throw line.  As a team, Oran was 8 for 9 from the charity stripe for 89%.

The 22 points scored by the Red Devils were fewest that the Eagles have allowed in a game this season.

The varsity improved to 13-7 and 5-1.

They have a homecoming date this Friday with the Bell City Cubs.  The varsity only night begins at 7 pm.