Christmas tournament: Oran converts late to eliminate Leopold 64-57

Oran picked a good time for a good spurt Wednesday.

The Eagles outscored Leopold 7-0 over the final minute and a half to defeat the Wildcats 64-57 in a fifth-place semifinal at the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament.

"We've had trouble with not playing consistent," Oran's Jon Morrow said. "Right now we're playing in spurts, which is a lot better than we have been doing. Right now we're just trying to complete a whole game."

All seven points came from the free-throw line, where Oran made all but one attempt down the stretch while Leopold committed two turnovers.

"We turned the ball over unforced," Leopold coach Shawn Kinder said. "They weren't even putting a lot of pressure on us. We had a lot of unforced turnovers due to not being focused I felt like."

Leopold's Cameron Davis guards Oran's Caleb Priggel during the second quarter Wednesday at the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament. (Kristin Eberts)

Oran advanced to face Notre Dame in the fifth-place game at 5 p.m. today at the Show Me Center.

The game was close throughout. Oran's lead of eight points midway through the fourth quarter was the biggest of the game.

"We play well for a while then we'll kind of go brain dead, but Leopold's a well-coached team and they get after you all night long defensively," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "They made us make some mistakes. They forced us into some turnovers and bad choices."

Kinder had some complaints about his team as well.

"I felt like we came out flat and kind of jet-lagged really," he said. "I felt we just did not have the intensity we did last night."

Oran's Tyler Heuring goes up for a shot as Leopold's Lance Seiler and Kyle Stroder, right, look on during the first quarter Wednesday.

Leopold lost to No. 2 seed Central on Tuesday.

"Well I just think maybe it took a lot out of us," Kinder said. "There was a lot of intensity for that game. They really wanted that one."

When the pace of the game sped up, it was Oran that benefited by regularly beating Leopold to the basket for easy scores.

"We had good defense and our transition was really good," Oran's Nathan Michelsen said. "We made layups off transition so that was good."

Those transition points are a sign of a good spurt.

"I told the kids when they ran the floor and passed the ball in transition we look good, but we don't consistently do it," Shoemaker said. "We just stop playing. It's not like we stop doing one thing. We just completely stop playing -- effort, movement, everything. Defense, rebounding. We play well for two or three minutes and we'll take a couple minutes off."

Michelsen agreed that the key to his team's transition game was effort.

"I think it's hustle," he said. "I mean, the harder we play, the better we are usually."

Morrow finished with a game-high 17 points. Sophomore Kody Moore had 16 while Tyler Heuring finished with 11.

Leopold was led by Lance Seiler and Kyle Stroder with 15 points each. John Bohnsack and Brandon Jansen added eight apiece.

Both Morrow and Michelsen said they look forward to the challenge of facing No. 4 seed Notre Dame.

"I like playing people that are better than us," Michelsen said. "It makes us better, and it gives us a chance to beat somebody good."

The game will pit Morrow, a 6-foot-5 center, against Notre Dame's 6-7 Jacob Tolbert.

"We're really excited," Morrow said. "We never get to play them in the regular season, and we just feel like we can play good against them."

Oran 13 15 15 21 -- 64

Leopold 16 10 15 16 -- 57

ORAN (64) -- Caleb Priggel 5, Nathan Michelsen 9, Preston Scherer 2, Kody Moore 16, Tyler Heuring 11, Reece Mangels 4, Jon Morrow 17. FG 21, FT 17-23, F 18. (3-pointers: Priggel 1, Michelsen 1, Moore 3. Fouled out: none)

LEOPOLD (57) -- Greg Davis 1, Kyle Stroder 15, Joe Elfrink 7, Cameron Davis 3, John Bohnsack 8, Lance Seiler 15, Brandon Jansen 8. FG 18, FT 13-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Stroder 2, Elfrink 1, Bohnsack 2, Seiler 3. Fouled out: Stroder)