Central lone team among top eight seeds to lose at Christmas tournament

~ No. 9 Oran upends the No. 8 Tigers 77-71 in overtime.

According to the seedings, it was only a mild upset.

But that did nothing to diminish the excitement the Class 1 Oran Eagles felt following Tuesday night's 77-71 overtime win over Class 5 Cape Girardeau Central.

"Oran hasn't beat a big school like that in a while," senior forward Chase Seyer said. "We're real happy to do it."

The victory for the ninth-seeded Eagles over eighth-seeded Central in the opening round of the 62nd annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament moves them into a 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal today against top-seeded Charleston.

"I'm proud for the kids, for a 1A school to say we beat a 5A school," Oran first-year coach Denver Stuckey said. "Upset, whatever it was, I think we showed a lot of character after blowing a double-digit lead."

Central, which is also under the direction of a first-year coach in Drew Church, showed plenty of character as well in rallying from 13 points down in the third quarter.

But the experienced Eagles prevailed over the inexperienced Tigers in a tense overtime as they posted their fourth straight win and improved to 7-2. Central fell to 4-6.

"We have a pretty good group," Seyer said, when asked how the Eagles managed to remain confident after Central stormed back. "We don't lose our heads and act stupid."

Seyer led the Eagles with 24 points, 15 coming after halftime.

"Chase showed when we need a big shot, he'll take it," Stuckey said.

Junior guard Kody Campbell scored 17 points, 13 after halftime. He made nine of 11 free throws, as the Eagles connected on 21 of 29 overall from the charity stripe.

Senior center Hunter Glastetter added 12 points for the Eagles.

"It was a team effort," Seyer said.

Junior guard Jajuan Bell paced the Tigers with 23 points, 16 after halftime.

Senior guard Kerry Walker scored 21 points and sophomore guard George Hamilton added 14 points, all after halftime.

Central led 14-8 after one quarter and was ahead 20-16 early in the second period when Oran hit the Tigers with an 11-0 run. Central faced an uphill battle the rest of the night.

Oran, ahead 31-22 at halftime, pushed its advantage to 39-26 early in the third quarter.

The Tigers pulled to within 50-41 entering the final period and kept on coming. They finally tied the contest at 62-62 with 13 seconds left on a layup by Hamilton, who was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.

It was on to the four-minute overtime, where Central grabbed an early 64-62 lead on Walker's layup.

After two ties, Oran went ahead for good, 68-66, on Campbell's layup with 2 minutes and 33 seconds remaining.

Central closed within two points twice more but the Eagles hit their free throws at the end to nail down the victory after outscoring the Tigers 15-9 in the extra period.

Campbell (six points), Seyer (five) and Glastetter (four) did all of Oran's overtime scoring. Walker had six of Central's nine overtime points.

"I'm really proud of their overall effort," Stuckey said.

Now the Eagles appear to face a monumental challenge as they take on mighty Charleston in the quarterfinals. A win would no doubt qualify as an upset.

"I told them you can't do something great unless you have an opportunity to do something great," Stuckey said. "We'll play our best and see what happens."

Central 14 8 19 21 9 -- 71

Oran 8 23 19 12 15 -- 77

CENTRAL (71) -- Kerry Walker 21, George Hamilton 14, Jajuan Bell 23, Anthony Watts 3, Garrett Pannier 2, Derek Walker 6, Adam Wendel 2. FG 26, FT 11-14, F 20 (3-pointers: K. Walker 3, Bell 4, Watts 1. Fouled out: D. Walker)

ORAN (77) -- Steven Mock 2, Kody Campbell 17, Nick Anderson 2, Robert Lange 9, Chase Seyer 24, Hunter Glastetter 12, Cody Romas 2, Chris Asmus 9. FG 28, FT 21-29, F 13 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Lange)