CHARLESTON AVOIDS THE BIG 'U'

Jordy Mixon wouldn't let his team lose.

While his Charleston teammates were clanking shot after shot, Mixon -- an undersized post player -- battled and bumped, jostled and jumped for four quarters to keep his Bluejays from becoming the University High Christmas Tournament's biggest upset victim Thursday.

Mixon got his 14th rebound and 25th point with 11 seconds left and top-seeded Charleston held off a young, scrappy and ninth-seeded Oran team 52-51 in a quarterfinal game.

Charleston (3-5) advances into tonight's semifinals while Oran (5-3) will play in today's fifth-place semifinals.

"Jordy is a tough kid," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer. "That's our go-to guy inside, but he really didn't play that well."

But he played far better than anyone else on his team. Mixon may have missed several close shots he normally would've made, but his 25 points were more than three times the production of any other player. Of his 14 rebounds, seven of them were offensive.

But as big of a game as Mixon had, Oran probably should've won.

Oran, which led 12-0 in the first quarter, didn't trail for the first 31 minutes, finding itself trailing for the first time at 50-49 with 1:07 left. The Eagles made just eight of their 18 free throws for the game and missed all three of their free throws in the final 2:16.

Oran point guard Adam Friga missed two free throws with three seconds left with the second one going in and out -- but the Eagles managed to force a turnover with a jump ball on the rebound. With two seconds left, an Oran player mistakenly tipped the inbounds pass toward half court and Friga's desperation heave at the buzzer wasn't close.

"We were very lucky," said Farmer. "I take my hat off to Oran. They played super all game and they deserved a victory."

"We definitely let one get away," said Oran coach Mitch Wood. "We had what we wanted with the free-throw situation. We missed some free throws we've got to make, but we missed them and that's part of the game. And not just Friga at the end. He didn't lose the game, I don't look at it like that. There were some free throws in the third quarter that were just important."

Turnovers also hindered the Eagles, who at times had four sophomores on the court. Oran turned the ball over 25 times, but it shot a respectable 43 percent from the field.

Charleston, meanwhile, shot horribly from the field, particularly from the perimeter. The Bluejays shot a mind-boggling 13 percent from the field (18 of 62) and made only three of their 20 three-pointers.

"We couldn't hit the hole," Farmer said. "We finally hit a three at the end and that gave us a lift."

Oran had several chances to put the game away in the first half, but missed some uncontested, close shots. The Eagles put up 12 points before Charleston could even blink. Ryne Wood hit his first two shots from behind the arc and Garrett Cook made another three with 5:58 left in the first quarter. But Charleston went on a 10-0 run after that and Oran didn't hit another three.

"They guarded us better after that," said Mitch Wood. "We're young and it kind of showed there. We had a couple guys with the hot hand but we had other guys try to step up. When we've got guys who are hot, we've got to be able to get them the basketball.

"But I feel pretty good about where we're at. We'll be all right and we'll se what we've got (today) when we play again."

Oran definitely showed that it will be a team to be reckoned with the next few years. The Eagles have a very talented sophomore class and one of those youngsters -- Tyler Cookson -- led the Eagles with 18 points.