Class 1, District 2 gets under way

~Oran, Bell City win big in opening round

DELTA - The Class 1, District 2 boys basketball tournament got underway on Monday at Delta High School.

The first round played out with one upset as No. 6 Delta defeated Scott County Central 62-58.

The rest of the matchups went as seeded.

Top-seeded Bell City defeated No. 8 Marquand 117-53; No. 2 Oran beat No. 7 Oak Ridge 93-41; and No. 4 Leopold beat No. 5 Zalma 54-44.

Bell City will square off with Leopold at 6:30 tonight followed by Oran and Delta at 8 p.m.

Bell City, the defending district champions, had no trouble disposing of winless Marquand in the first round.

"I thought we came out ready to play," said Bell City head coach David Heeb. "I thought we came out ready to set a tone for the way we want to play through the district tournament. I was real proud of how hard the kids played."

Bell City (22-5) raced out to a 32-9 lead after one quarter and a 70-21 lead at the half.

Reserves played the majority of the second half for the Cubs as they cruised to the easy win.

Junior point guard Dominitrix Johnson scored all of his game-high 23 points in the first half. Seniors Eric Henry and Kenyon Wright also scored all of their 13 and 12 points respectively in the first half.

"We play 10 kids just about every night and I thought all 10 played well tonight," said Heeb. "Even when we put some of the jayvee kids in I thought they played just as hard as the other kids."

The Eagles set a season high with their 93 points on Monday. Oran (21-6) raced out to a 24-7 first quarter lead and they never looked back.

"I thought the kids played hard," said Oran head coach Mitch Wood.

"Sometimes it's hard to get up for games like that when you've beaten a team 25 to 30 points before. I thought the kids did a good job of getting up. I thought we shot the ball well and I thought we guarded well tonight."

Oran continued to pour it on in the second quarter, leading 44-21 at the half. The Eagles extended the lead to 67-30 heading into the final frame.

Oran dominated the offensive boards, which led to several shot opportunities for the Eagles.

"Anytime you can miss shots, rebound your own and get put-backs two or three times you've got something going," said Wood. "The success we've had this year in certain games we've always out-rebounded people. We've done a good job on the boards and that's what we've got to continue to do."

Oran was led by Nathan Seyer's 20 points. Patrick Friga added 15 points followed by Ryne Wood's 14 points.