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Bloomfield grinds out win over Oran
ORAN -- A strong start to the second half proved to be the difference Monday for visiting Bloomfield Monday when taking on Oran.
Led by Tim Hector's 20 points, the Wildcats notched their 20th win, 65-51, despite a late comeback attempt by the Eagles that cut Bloomfield's lead in half.
"We had stretches where we played pretty good and we also had stretches where we lost a little momentum," Wildcats' head coach Jason Karnes said. "I give a lot of credit to Oran for that. Coach (Joe) Shoemaker does a good job with his team. We knew they weren't going to lay down and we got a little lax.
"It's that point in the year where you have to grind a win out when you can. That's what we were able to do."
Bloomfield (20-3) entered the third quarter with a 31-21 lead and opened the half hitting five-straight shots to double their advantage in under four minutes.
An 11-0 run was capped with a Peyton Bell 3-pointer to put the Wildcats up 42-22 with 4:20 left in the quarter while Bloomfield's defense held the Eagles without a basket for almost four minutes to start the half.
A basket by Nathan Newell gave Bloomfield a game-high 22-point lead, 47-25, with 1:33 left before the fourth and they ended the third with a 48-29 advantage.
"We wanted to keep doing what we do, but we wanted to do it a little better," Karnes said of their third quarter success. "We wanted to guard a little harder and hopefully get some energy from that and I thought we did that to start the second half."
What looked to be a rout took a turn in the fourth thanks to a couple quick runs by the Eagles.
An offensive foul and turnover by the Wildcats helped Oran to a 7-0 outburst to start the fourth, cutting their deficit to 12 at 48-36, with 6:52 to play and forced a Bloomfield timeout.
Bloomfield countered with a 6-2 run soon after, but thanks to some turnovers off the press, a pair of Jacob Shoemaker free throws with 1:38 to play closed Oran within 10 for the first time since the opening minute of the second half.
Forced to foul, the Eagles watched the Wildcats sink 6 of their final 8 free throws in the final minute-and-a-half to seal the win.
"We weren't really focused in that situation," Karnes said "I don't know we would expect them to do anything different (than press in the fourth), but we just didn't execute or have a lot of focus.
"It's going to happen, but we have to make sure that's not acceptable moving forward."
Hector's 20 points led Bloomfield, hitting five of his team's eight 3-pointers on the night. He hit four shots beyond the arc in the second half alone where he put up 13 of his points.
"He made some big ones and that was good to see," Karnes said of Hector. "We needed somebody like that. They pack it in so well and kind of play soft. That's what they gave us and Timmy was able to knock down some shots.
"We did a good job of finding him."
Nathan Newell was second on the team with 16 points and Noah Vandiver added nine points to the cause.
For Oran, Max Priggel had a game-high 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter alone. Shoemaker finsihed with nine points.
Eagles' head coach Joe Shoemaker was unavailable for comment.
| Bloomfield | 16 | 15 | 17 | 17 | - | 65 |
| Oran | 6 | 15 | 8 | 22 | - | 51 |
BLOOMFIELD (65) --Tim Hector 20, Peyton Bell 7, Nathan Newell 16, Austin Bond 8, Tyler Battles 1, Noah Vandiver 9, Alex Gibbs 4. FG 22, FT 13-20, F 21. (3-pointers: Hector 5, Bell 1, Newell 2. Fouled out: none.)
ORAN (51) -- Jacob Shoemaker 9, Max Priggel 21, Preston Hahn 3, Layne Johnson 6, Garrison Mangels 7, Blake Schlitt 4. FG 17, FT 13-18, F 18. (3-pointers: Priggel 2, Hahn 1. Fouled out: none.)