Oran boys basketball team converts at free-throw line to drop Malden in OT at Oran Invitational

ORAN, Mo. -- Junior Alex Heuring thrust his fists outward and let out a loud, "Yeah" as the final horn sounded Friday.

Heuring's 19 points helped lead Oran past Malden 62-58 in overtime in the third-place game at the Oran Invitational boys basketball tournament.

The Eagles hit 4 of 6 from the free-throw line to down the Green Wave.

"I think a lot of it was we didn't want to come out of here 1-2," Oran junior Kody Moore said. "We believe we should have won that game [semifinal vs. Advance], and it's given us something to work harder for. We've got a little bit more concentration, and I think that helped us make more free throws tonight."

The Eagles only hit 10 of 16 (63 percent) from the line in Thursday's loss to Advance, but finished 18 of 26 (69 percent) Friday.

"We shot poorly from the free-throw line [Thursday] and we talked about that," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "They did a little better tonight."

Heuring hit a pair of free throws for a 59-58 lead with 2 minutes, 16 seconds left in overtime. The Eagles didn't allow the Green Wave to score again.

"I felt like we did a little better job at times of rebounding," Shoemaker said. "Just made smarter choices with the basketball. Quit turning it over."

Moore said the key to earning the overtime victory was controlling the tempo, which isn't always easy.

"It is tough, it really is," he said. "Sometimes you can catch yourself getting caught up in the moment. You can run down the floor and jack up a 3 or you could make a wild shot."

Moore hit two free throws to give Oran a 56-53 lead with 55.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Malden's Anthony Hughes drained a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to tie the game.

Moore got a decent look in the closing 10 seconds, but it was off the mark.

"We had Kody with an open jump shot at about 2 feet," Shoemaker said. "That's a shot we'll take from him right there."

The Eagles got a final chance but couldn't get off a decent shot before the horn sounded, which forced overtime.

Ressel scored 14 points, including a combined 10 in the fourth quarter and overtime despite playing with an injured elbow sustained in the Eagles' semifinal loss.

"I had a little more adrenaline off the crowd," he said. "I was working a little bit harder trying to ignore this elbow injury."

Consolation final

Bell City's strong start carried the Cubs past Kelly 70-52.

The Cubs raced out to a 43-17 lead at halftime, but the Hawks trimmed their deficit to nine points entering the final quarter.

Kelly's Jeff Gates, who finished with a game-high 22 points, hit for nine points in the third quarter alone.

But Shane Hughes scored 10 of his 14 points over the final eight minutes to carry the Cubs.

Bell City hit six 3-pointers in the game.

Jared Yates led the Cubs with 16 points.

ORAN 62, MALDEN 58

Oran 21 10 9 16 6 -- 62

Malden 15 19 9 13 2 -- 58

ORAN (62) -- Kody Moore 7, Seth Ressel 14, Blake Carlyle 2, Alex Heuring 19, Blake Henson 9, Adam Schaefer 11. FG 20, FT 18-26, F 14. (3-pointers: Schaefer 3, Ressel 1. Fouled out: none)

MALDEN (58) -- Dajuan Criglar 3, Anthony Hughes 10, Cortez Dobbins 4, Quentin Johns 8, Romello McCoy 17, Jonsha Robinson 16. FG 25, FT 5-9, F 22. (3-pointers: Hughes 2, Criglar 1. Fouled out: none)

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BELL CITY 70, KELLY 52

Kelly 10 7 25 10 -- 52

Bell City 20 23 8 19 -- 70

KELLY (52) -- Aaron Grainger 10, Trey Walker 1, Brent Forck 9, Jeff Gates 22, Gabe Felter 10. FG 17. FT 13-22, F 20. (3-pointers: Grainger 1, Forck 1, Gates 3. Fouled out: Walker)

BELL CITY (70) -- McKenzie Vires 12, Jared Yates 16, Aaron Smith 8, Trey Geiger 8, Josh Overbey 9, Shane Hughes 14, Colen Carpenter 3. FG 23, FT 18-26, F 23. (3-pointers: Vires 1, Yates 2, Smith 2, Carpenter 1. Fouled out: Smith)