~Oran runs past Leopold; will face Charleston today
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The last game of the night at the seMissourian Christmas tournament Wednesday, proved that the seedings stood true, as the eighth-
seeded Oran Eagles out-dueled the ninth-seeded Leopold Wildcats, 78-62.
"I think they played really hard," Eagles head coach Denver Stuckey said. "It's a bigger court than we're used to, I think it kind of winded them a little bit. I was really proud of the effort. We rotated all eight guys in and I thought they all gave us some great minutes."
The Eagles were able to create baskets for themselves off of turnovers which helped them to lead for most of the game. They went into half time with a 31-21 lead.
Oran was led by big contributions from Cody Romas and Kody Campbell, who scored 49 of the Eagles 78 points. Romas scored 25, while Campbell added 24 points.
Leopold was led by Darren VanGennip's 21 points. Clayton Stoverink chipped in with 18 points.
It's always great to win a ball game, but in Oran's case, the only thing that this win did is put them into a position to face the Charleston Bluejays in the next round.
"The two things we're going to do tonight, is wish and hope," Stuckey said. "Its a daunting task. I just hope that we come out and compete and give it our all, that's all a coach can ask."
When asked what the Eagles could do to get an edge on the one-seed Bluejays, Stuckey said good fundamental basketball could be the key.
"I think that if we can keep them off the boards and force them to take perimeter shots, we have a shot and if we can take care of the basketball and get a good shot each trip down, I think we can be able to compete with them, but that's a lot of ifs."
The Eagle-Bluejay match-up is scheduled to tip-off at 4:30 p.m.
For the fifth-straight year, the Charleston Bluejays came in as the No. 1 seed and easily dispatched the 16th-seeded Delta Bobcats, 97-41.
Brian Parham scored 22 for Charleston (8-2), including 14 in the first half, to lead all scorers. Donald Dixon added 15 and Terrell Smith had 13. Tyler Martin led Delta with 18 points.
Bell City began its defense of last year's championship with an easy 75-39 win over 15th-seeded Oak Ridge.
Nick Niemczyk led all scorers with 33 points while Phillip Gross and Marty Dames scored 11 and 10 respectively.
Brett Thomas led Oak Ridge with 13 points and 12 from Garret Light.
Third-seeded Jackson rolled over 14th-seeded Meadow Heights 91-42.
Jackson's Jake Leet finished with 17 points while Caleb Guilliams scored 15, Hunter Grantham 14 and Spencer Goodman 12.
Dustin Hubler led Meadow Heights with 9.
The fourth-seeded Scott County Central Braves jumped to a 55-14 halftime and coasted past Chaffee 94-27.
Caleb Johnson had 20 points to lead Scott Central (7-1) while D.D. Gillespie had 19, Otto Porter 14 and Bobby Hatchett 10.
Chaffee was led by Andy Hendrix with 10.
The Notre Dame full-court press caused numerous Advance turnovers as the fifth-seeded Bulldogs rolled to a 70-29 victory.
Ryan Willen scored 28 for Notre Dame while Austin Greer scored 12.
Advance was led by Jacob Bonds' 12.
The Kelly Hawks saw visions of an upset Wednesday, trailing six-seeded Scott City 38-27 at the half. But Scott City stretched their lead to 61-38 after three and cruised to a 73-48 win.
Kelly (2-6) was led by Josh DeBrock's 15.
Scott City was led in scoring by Ryan Modglin and Jay Simmons who both finished with 15. Alex King added 14.
The seventh-seeded Cape Central Tigers continued the lower seed domination, downing Woodland 61-43.
Chase Johnson led Cape Central with 15 points while Anthony Watts put in 13.