Oran boys basketball team reaches Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament final

MORLEY, Mo. -- Sometimes, when the shots aren't falling, you've got to go back to the basics.

That's what top-seeded Oran did Thursday night in the semifinals of the Scott-Mississippi Conference boys basketball tournament.

Facing a Chaffee team that didn't back down from the Eagles' running attack, Oran decided to work the ball inside to 6-foot-4 senior center Alex Heuring, and the results helped the Eagles to a hard-fought 65-55 victory.

Oran (15-2) will face second-seeded, six-time defending champion Scott County Central, 76-72 winners over Scott City, in tonight's 8:30 p.m. championship game.

"Our seniors really stepped up and played well," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "They just battled through it and gave us the lieft we needed."

Oran led virtually throughout but could never put away the pesky, fourth-seeded Red Devils.

The Eagles held leads of 23-16, 30-25 and 32-27 in the first half. But whenever they threatened to open a bigger lead, the Red Devils (10-7) would battle back.

"Chaffee is very well-coached and they played very disciplined tonight," Shoemaker said. "They never quit. We were never able to extend our lead on them."

Instead, whenever the Red Devils threatened to close the gap, Heuring answered. His follow on a missed free throw capped a four-point possession that pushed Oran's lead to 41-31 early in the third. His three-point play later in the period pushed the Eagles lead to 47-36, and he scored six more points in the final period as the Eagles maintained their advantage.

"It's always important to get out to an early lead," Heuring, who led all scorers with 23 points, said. "We like to push the ball, but [Chaffee] slowed us down."

Still, the Red Devils didn't quit. Jared Walker's 3-pointer pulled Chaffee within 59-55 with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining. But the Eagles converted six straight free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.

Kody Moore added 16 points for Oran and Hunter Schlosser had 11.

Walker led Chaffee with 17 points, while Charlie Montgomery added 16.

Chffee 14 13 11 17 -- 55

Oran 16 16 15 18 -- 65

CHAFFEE (55) -- Peyton Montgomery 3, Layton Tenkhoff 9, Jared Walker 17, Jimmy Golden 7, Tyler Golden 2, Charline Montgomery 16, Trevor Morehead 1. FG: 21, FT: 7-11, F: 23. (3-pointers: Walker 3, Tenkhoff 1. Fouled out: none.)

ORAN (65) -- Kody Moore 16, Seth Ressell 9, Jacob Priggel 4, Chance Tenkhoff 2, Hunter Schlosser 11, Alex Heuring 23. FG: 20, FT: 22-30, F: 15. (3-pointers: Moore 3. Fouled out: none.)