Tourney begins

Oran downs Kelly, Scott Central rolls in first round

sd_sports@yahoo.com

ORAN -- Holding off an early fourth quarter rally by Kelly, the Oran Eagles opened up the 55th annual Oran Invitational Tournament Monday night with a 73-59 win to advance to the semifinals of the winner's bracket.

"(We played) sloppy," Eagles head coach Joe Shoemaker said. "Part of it was our fault and part was a credit to Kelly. They got out, played hard and scrambled a lot on defense.

"We have to learn to value the basketball a lot better than that."

Down by 20 early in the fourth, the Hawks went on an 11-point run midway through the quarter to cut their deficit to nine.

Unfortunately for Kelly, with time winding down, the Eagles were able to play ball control to milk the clock while connecting 7-of-9 free throws in the final four minutes to seal the deal.

"We played a little selfish at the beginning, weren't moving the ball around real well," Kelly coach Josh Eftink said. "But that third and fourth quarter we started moving the ball well and getting some nice open shots.

"We made one or two and then our confidence went up and then we started knocking a lot more (shots) down, but it just wasn't enough."

A big reason Oran was able to stave off Kelly's late attack was their ability to build a comfortable lead early and keep it as they held the lead from the first minute on.

Coming out of the gate hot, the Eagles jumped out to a ten-point lead to open the game as Nathan Michelsen stole a Kelly inbound bound pass before putting in the net to put his team up 12-2.

Though the Hawks got their offense going soon after, Oran was able to take a nine-point advantage into the half before outscoring Kelly 17-13 in the third to go into the fourth up 53-37.

That on top of a 7-3 run by Oran to open the fourth helped the Eagles seal their trip to the semifinals.

Though always happy to escape with a win, Shoemaker hopes his squad can cut out a lot of the mistakes that at times let Kelly back into the game.

"We're playing very sloppy right now," he said. "We're not valuing the basketball and we don't understand right now what a good shot is.

"That's something we get to work on in practice."

Getting most his points in the paint, Jon Morrow had a strong night for the Eagles, coming away with a team-high 29 points with 19 of those coming in the second half.

For Kelly it was Trey Drury leading the way, contributing 21 points to the Hawks cause, including knocking down two of the teams four three-pointers on the night.

With the Advance Hornets taking down the Bell City Cubs 55-42 also Monday evening, Oran will now face the Hornets in the semifinals Thursday at 8 p.m.

Kelly will face the Cubs in the consolation bracket tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Kelly 7 17 13 22 -- 59

Oran 14 19 20 20 -- 73

KELLY (59) -- Stosh Lovett 6, Trey Drury 21, Ian Householder 16, Garret Alsup 3, Gabe Felter 9, Josh Long 4. FG 23, FT 9-15, F 18. (3-pointers: Drury 2, Householder 1, Alsup 1. Fouled out: none).

ORAN (73) -- Caleb Priggel 2, Nathan Michelsen 12, Preston Scherer 7, Kody Moore 7, Tyler Heuring 10, Reece Mangels 4, Jon Morrow 29, Blake Henson 2. FG 30, FT 12-20, F 13. (3-pointers: Scherer 1, Moore 1, Heuring 1. Fouled out: none).

Scott Central 97, Greenville 21

ORAN -- You can't start a tournament much hotter than the Scott County Central Braves blowout win over the Greenville Bears in the opening round of the Oran Invitationals Tournament.

Up 44-2 after the first quarter, the Braves cruised to a 97-21 win over the Bears to move on to the semifinals where they will face the winner of the Richland/Malden game tonight.

Leading Scott Central in a game where 14 Braves contributing to the cause, Reggie Woodson came away with a game-high 20 points, followed by Otto Porter's 16, scoring all but two of those in the first quarter.

Leading the Bears was Ethan Allen with five followed by Tim Frymire and Tim Hillis with four apiece.

Greenville 2 7 6 6 -- 21

SCC 44 27 13 13 -- 97

GREENVILLE (21) -- Perry Meyer 2, Ethan Allen 5, Tim Frymore 4, Billy Green 2, Michael Morry 2, Jerry Alexander 2, Tim Hillis 4. FG 8, FT 4-4, F 7. (3-pointers: Allen 1. Fouled out: none).

SCOTT CENTRAL (97) -- Dominique Porter 11, Lamarcus Steward 5, Antonio Johnson 1, Steven Minner 6, Otto Porter 16, Stewart Johnson 8, Trey Johnson 6, Bryan Freed 4, Tyrell Avance 2, Caleb Cockrell 2, Tyler Dollins 2, Zach Abernathy 6, Reggie Woodson 20, Calvin Porter 6. FG 44, FT 4-7, F 4. (3-pointers: Minner 2, Abernathy 1. Fouled out: none).