Boys sweep SCC in opener

The Oran Junior High School boys basketball teams made a successful debut last night at Scott County Central.  The 7th grade won 52-15 while the 8th grade prevailed 46-41.

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I thought the 7th grade played very hard and they did a good job of passing the basketball.  We made an adjustment on the press defense and it allowed us to get some easy baskets. We shot 43% from the field."

Kolten Payne led the younger team with 22 points.  He hit five of seven from beyond the arc.  Camdyn Triblett had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.  He also had six steals. Robby Menz had 10 points and five steals.

Luke Peterson had four points, while Parker Diebold and Noah Mitchem both had two.  Nick Massey rounded out the scoring with a single tally.

The Eagles outscored the Braves 23-4 during the second half to cruise to the turbo-clock victory.

As a team, the winners hit 5 of 13 free throws for 39%.

In game two, Oran trailed the hosts 8-4 after one but was able to take a 22-18 lead into the intermission.  The Eagles were able to expand the lead to 11, 33-22 after the third period but then had to hold on as the Braves hit 3 three's to cut into the deficit.

Coach Shoemaker said, "I thought the 8th grade played very hard but played just a little out of control.  I look for them to play a much smarter game the next time out.  I was proud that they responded and won the game when we didn't play our best, especially with a low shooting percentage.  We shot 30% from the field."

Free throw shooting was the difference in the game as Oran hit 11 of 25 (44%) and SCC hit none of their 7 attempts.

Nick Romas had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead a balanced scoring attack.  He hit one trey and was four of six from the line.  Quentin Senciboy scored 11 and was three of four on charity tosses. He had five steals.  Chris Collins had 10 points.

Diesel Cato and Samuel Shoemaker, each scored four and Seth Cauble added two.  Shoemaker led the team with 13 rebounds and six steals.

"I also want to thank the 6th graders who helped out keeping stats," said the coach.

Those sixth-graders include Elijah Shoemaker, Marshall Bradley, Brendan Campbell, Nate Pobst, Andrew Dennis, John Tucker, Jace Fuemmeler, Drake Dannenmuller and Blake Urhahn.

The Eagles will have their first home games on Monday when they host Woodland at 6 pm.