Oak Ridge boys basketball team runs past Chaffee

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The Oak Ridge Blue Jays spoiled Chaffee's senior night.

Hunter Seyer made sure of it.

The junior came off the bench and provided 12 points, including nine during the decisive run in the second half, to help Oak Ridge pull away late in a 56-41 victory.

"Coach really talked about stepping in and coming off the bench," Seyer said. "And I felt like we needed to do something and get a spark going because it was pretty close there for most of the game. Me and the other guys that came in, Ethan [Seyer] and Lance [Rohde], really worked hard. I got lucky and got a couple of shots off some good assists. We just really put a good third quarter together."

Seyer buried Chaffee (12-10) in the third quarter by draining two 3-pointers. He added another in the fourth.

"We went with two or three subs about midway through the third, and I thought that was the difference in the game," Oak Ridge coach Adam Stoneking said. "Hunter Seyer came in and hit a couple big shots, and [Corvin] Schoen had probably the best defensive four or five minutes of his life. I thought that really turned the point of the game when we went to the subs and those guys came in off the bench and really performed well."

The Blue Jays (14-10) and Red Devils played evenly until the third quarter.

It was another defensive battle after Oak Ridge got the best of Chaffee 31-30 in last week's Mississippi Valley Conference tournament.

Oak Ridge exhibited patience on offense by working the ball around several times before settling on high-percentage shots. It finished 9 of 19 (47 percent) from inside the arc in the first half.

"We knew they weren't going to give us a lot of easy shots if we just came down and rushed a quick one," Stoneking said. "We wanted to make sure we switched sides of the floor and took good shots when it came to us, and I thought the kids did that. They did a great job of waiting until it was their shot and taking a good shot and not just taking a shot."

The patience on offense led to a 29-23 halftime lead for the visiting Blue Jays.

A main reason for the Blue Jays' success was their defensive effort on Alex Crowe, Chaffee's leading scorer.

"They guard well," Chaffee coach Josh Govreau said. "They match up and talk well and communicate. They're so big. Whether it's a ball screen or screen in front, they get their hands up and they're just everywhere. [Crowe] found some open looks, but for us to be successful, we're going to have to have some scoring from somebody else, and he'll find more shots if somebody does that."

Oak Ridge harassed Crowe all night. The Red Devils senior shot 3 of 13, including 3 of 11 from beyond the arc.

"We wanted to make sure we always knew where he was, and that comes down to communication," Stoneking said. "I thought we did a real good job of communication all night long on the defensive end."

The Red Devils found some life in the third quarter. They pulled even at 31-31 on a basket by Alex Davie and a conventional three-point play by Charlie Montgomery.

"We came out and ran a couple of sets and got some things down low and got some easy points," Govreau said about the third quarter. "I gave them an earful at halftime about rebounding, and we came out and rebounded well for a couple of minutes. They're just so big. The first half we didn't rebound every possession. That's one thing we don't understand how to do yet. Every time a shot goes up, all five have to get down and rebound for 32 minutes. And against a team like Oak Ridge, with their size, they're going to take too much advantage, and they did that."

Oak Ridge quickly broke the tie.

Kyle Rohde hit a layup and Seyer buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Blue Jays a 39-31 lead entering the fourth.

"We just knew what we had to do," Rohde said. "Lance [Seyer] and Ryan [Below], we just got the ball inside and we got a mixture of everything from our outside shooters. Hunter came through making some 3s, and we got it inside when we could."

Corvin Schoen hit a basket to start the fourth, and Seyer drained another 3-pointer to bury the Red Devils.

"To start out, we got some buckets down low and did some things, but then we just had some careless turnovers," Govreau said.

Oak Ridge 13 16 10 17 -- 56

Chaffee 15 8 8 10 -- 41

OAK RIDGE (56) -- Hunter Seyer 12, Kelby Brown 4, Ryan Below 10, Jake LeGrand 8, Dakota Zoellner 6, Kyle Rohde 12, Lance Rohde 2, Corvin Schoen 2. FG 21. F 12, FT 8-19. (3-pointers: Seyer 4, Brown, LeGrand. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (41) -- Alex Crowe 9, Peyton Montgomery 6, Zach Dannenmueller 5, Layton Tenkhoff 4, Jordan Yahn 11, Alex Davie 3, Charlie Montgomery 3. FG 16. F 17. FT 6-16. (3-pointers: Crowe 3. Fouled out: none)