Boys bounce Blue Jays

The Class 2 District 3 boys basketball tournament championship game featured the number one seeded Oran Eagles and the number two seeded Oak Ridge Blue Jays.  The two teams had met one month earlier and Oran had eeked out a 65-62 victory at home.  Last night's game started out like it was going to be another barnburner.

The Eagles led 19-18 after one quarter but trailed 39-37 at the half after falling behind by as many as nine, 35-26.  Oran scored the final six points of the second and then took control with a 14-0 run out of the halftime lockerrooms.  They outscored the Blue Jays 52-33 over the final 16 minutes to claim their third straight district crown, 89-72.

Tyson Goodale led the Eagles with a career-high 33 points. Todd Priggel and Jacob Shoemaker each had 19 and both had double-doubles. Priggel had a team-high 11 rebounds, Shoemaker grabbed 10 boards and had two treys.  Ty Johnson also produced a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists.

Cooper Priggel had a trey and Langdon Scheeter had a field goal to round out the scoring.

The boys were 10-16 from the charity stripe, for 63%.  They made 35-55 from inside the arc for 65% and 3 of 12 from beyond for 25%.  They outrebounded the Jays 39-22 and had one less turnover (11 to 12).

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "I thought we finished the first half with better defensive intensity than we started it with. We were able to discuss at halftime going to a man defense and then controlling boards and getting out in transition. We were able to have a big start to the second half.
I thought our conditioning and unselfishness on offense both came into play."

They improved their record to 27-1.

The Eagles will play the Valle Catholic Warriors (15-13) in the sectional round on Wednesday at 6 pm at Jackson.  The teams have only met once in recent years.  Oran defeated the Warriors two years ago in the district tournament during the state championship run, 72-43.