HORNETS ADVANCE PAST ORAN TO 1A, DISTRICT 2 TITLE GAME

ADVANCE -- Call it homecourt disadvantage. Call it the jitters or intimidation. Call it whatever you want.

Whatever it was, Oran was struck with it in the first half of its 69-52 loss to Advance in the Class 1A, District 2 semifinal game on Tuesday.

"I wouldn't have thought we'd be scared," said Oran coach Larry Boshell. "But it looked like it the way we played."

The Eagles (16-10) looked totally overmatched by Advance (23-4), ranked fourth in 1A, in the first half, but emerged with new life in the second half only to have Garrett Broshuis extinguish any fire Oran tried to set.

After digging itself into a 20-point hole in the first half, Oran climbed back into the game in the third quarter, outscoring Advance 18-9 to trail 46-33 going into the final eight minutes.

Oran, led by Travis Friga, did pretty much anything it wanted during the third quarter, making seven of its 14 shots and creating five turnovers.

The Eagles cut the lead to 10 points with :39 left in the third quarter and cut it to 48-38 with 5:57 left in the fourth.

But on both occasions, Broshuis answered with a basket.

"At some point, you kept thinking, Garrett was going to say enough's enough," said Advance coach Jim Hall. "He stepped up a couple times and hit some nice shots to get the momentum back."

Boshell thought Broshuis' three the first time Oran cut the lead to 10 was the biggest shot of the game.

"We could've been down eight, but we left him open," Boshell said. "I think I could've made it, he was that wide open. But he's a heck of a basketball player."

Broshuis almost single-handedly put the game away in the fourth, scoring 11 of his team's 15 points during a 14-3 run which took well over 2 minutes. Advance scored in seven straight possessions during that stretch and made all five of its shots.

Before it knew it, Oran found itself down 20 points again with only 3 minutes to go.

In all, Broshuis scored 32 points, 13 coming in the fourth quarter. Broshuis ended up making five 3-pointers. Adam Rainey was the only other player in double figures for the Hornets with 13.

Friga scored 25 points -- 17 coming in the second half -- to lead Oran. Phillip Seyer added 10.

Advance got off to a quick start, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points.

The Hornets ended up leading the Eagles 20-6 after the first quarter. Broshuis had 10 points in the opening 8 minutes of play.

Advance got out to its large lead by holding Oran to just 3 of 11 shooting and not allowing the Eagles any offensive rebounds.

Advance, meanwhile, made seven of its 11 shots in the first quarter, including three of four from 3-point range. Even the shots Advance missed were generally open looks.

Advance wasn't quite as hot in the second quarter, hitting 11 of 30 from the field. But the Hornets' distinct rebounding advantage gave Advance a 35-15 lead going into halftime.

The Hornets had at least seven offensive rebounds in the second quarter six of them coming on the same possession.

Oran didn't get an offensive rebound until about 1 minute left before the half.

Compounding the Eagles' rebounding woes was their turnover rate. Oran committed seven turnovers in the second quarter and 11 in the first half.