Advance boys basketball team defeats host Oran in third-place game of OIT

The basket must have looked as big as a golf hole for Advance guard Brian Whitson on Friday night in the third-place game of the Oran Invitational Tournament.

And for the junior, that's pretty big.

Whitson, who finished fourth at the Class 1 state golf tournament in May, was filling the basket with 3-pointers against the Eagles.

Whitson hit on three consecutive 3-point attempts in a two-minute span in a decisive third quarter and finished with a game-high 24 points as the fourth-seeded Hornets handed district rival Oran a 61-44 loss.

Whitson connected for five of the Hornets' six 3-pointers in the game, and his third-quarter splurge helped open a two-point halftime lead to double figures.

The splurge came after he was held scoreless a night earlier in a semifinal loss to Scott County Central.

"He's a pretty good little athlete, he does pretty well and whatever he does -- baseball, basketball, golf is probably his best sport," Advance coach Bubba Wheetley said.

Whitson doubled the Hornets lead when he hit the first of his third-quarter baskets with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the third quarter to give Advance a 31-25 advantage.

He then drove the lead to eight points when he answered a pair of Hunter Schlosser two-point baskets with a 3-pointer basket from each corner. The latter gave the Hornets a 37-29 lead at the 3:54 mark and left Oran coach Joe Shoemaker calling timeout.

"That's something we knew," Shoemaker said. "They shoot the ball very well and they share the ball very well as a basketball team. They didn't force bad shots and they played harder than us tonight."

Advance sophomore Preston Wuebker got in on the act, nailing a 3-pointer to extend the lead to double figures at 40-29 with 3:22 left in the third quarter.

"It just makes so much difference if they're hitting some of those 3's," Wheetley said. "We're going to have to count on those two, and Dalton Wilson, he is our leader, stepped up tonight and he played so well last night. I really thought all of them played well. They played to their potential."

Wilson, a senior, scored eight points after scoring 25 points in the semifinals.

Six-foot-three sophomore Dawson Mayo took care of the rest of the Hornets' scoring after the 3-point barrage in the third quarter, working the inside for three baskets that helped the Hornets take a 46-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

Advance shot 57 percent from the field (8 of 14) in the third period after shooting 37 percent (10 of 27) in the first half.

The Hornets scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to build a 13-point lead. Oran closed to within nine points, 50-41, on a Schlosser basket with 5:15 remaining, but the Hornets outscored the Eagles 11-3 down the stretch to secure the win.

It was the third straight win for Advance over second-seeded Oran, which it defeated in the Class 2 District 3 championship game last season.

"That was a concern," Wheetley said about the revenge factor. "I said, 'They're wanting you.' I could tell going through the lineup tonight, they're upset. So they're going to be tough. They're going to get better, much better. We're going to have to get better to beat them again."

The two teams both dropped to Class 1 this season, and they could meet in the District 2 tournament.

"We'll have to improve to see them again in districts," Shoemaker said. "We're not at that level right now."

Mayo finished with 12 points, while Austin Ladd added nine.

Jacob Priggel paced Oran with 17 points, and Schlosser added 15. No other Eagles player finished with more than four points.

The Eagles, who lost to Malden 70-63 in the semifinals Thursday, fell to 1-2,

"It was a building stone," Shoemaker said about Friday's game. "You gauge yourself against district competition, whether it be execution-wise or how hard you play, and stuff like that. We saw that we came up short tonight, and that's something as coaches and a team we'll get in practice and solve."

The Hornets improved to 2-1 after suffering their first loss of the season in 90-66 fashion to top-seeded and eventual champion Scott County Central.

"I thought the intensity was there," Wheetley said. "I was concerned after last night. It was a hard-fought game. I didn't know if they'd have it, but they wanted it and they come out and played very good, I thought. It makes a big difference when you hit a few shots."

Oran Invitational Tournament

Third place

Advance 61, Oran 44

Advance 13 12 21 15 -- 61

Oran 8 15 14 7 -- 44

ADVANCE (61) -- Dalton Wilson 8, Grant Woodfin 2, Brian Whitson 24, Austin Ladd 9, Dawson Mayo 12, Preston Wuebker 6. FG 23, FT 9-15, F 14 (3-pointers: Whitson 5, Wuebker. Fouled out: none.)

ORAN (44) -- Layne Johnson 4, Max Priggel 4, Jacob Priggel 17, Preston Hahn 2, Hunter Schlosser 15, Garrison Mangels 2. FG 17, FT 4-10, F 20 (3-pointers: Johnson, J. Priggel. Fouled out: J. Priggel.)

Consolation championship

Bell City 71, Kelly 65

Nate Finney scored 21 points to help sixth-seeded Bell City to the consolation title.

Peyton Maddox added 15 points and Cole Nichols had 11 for the Cubs.

Maurice Davis scored 20 points for fifth-seeded Kelly. Jake McClain netted 17 points, while Conner Dittlinger and Ty Householder both finished with 11.

Bell City 19 17 14 21 -- 71

Kelly 8 19 20 18 -- 65

BELL CITY (71) -- Austin Hicks 9, Cole Nichols 11, Bobby Wright 7, Nate Finney 21, Peyton Maddox 15, Kolten Siebert 8. FG 25, FT 6-19, F 20 (3-pointers: Nichols 2, Wright, Finney, Siebert 2. Fouled out: none.)

KELLY (65) -- Evan Abernathy 1, Maurice Davis 20, Conner Dittlinger 11, Ty Householder 11, Dalton Huffman 4, Jake McClain 17, Jacob Riley 2. FG 29, FT 10-19, F 21 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: McClain.)