Oran boys basketball team upends No. 2 seed Scott City in conference tourney

ORAN, Mo. -- For Hunter Schlosser and his senior teammates, it was the last chance to make amends against a Scott City team that had already beaten them twice this season.

So Oran coach Joe Shoemaker challenged his seniors.

"I asked them, 'This is your last chance to play Scott City. What are we going to see out of you guys tonight?'" Shoemaker said. "I think [Schlosser] answered the challenge very well tonight."

Schlosser finished with a game-high 28 points, and the third-seeded Eagles jumped out to a 21-point lead at the end of the first quarter before cruising to a 70-37 win over the second-seeded Rams in a semifinal of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament on Thursday at Oran High School.

"They just dominated us in every facet of the game," said Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller, whose team turned the ball over five times in the opening period. "They dominated us in rebounding and shooting. They were more physical than we were. We just completely backed down."

The Eagles (13-5) will face top-seeded Scott County Central in the conference championship at 8:30 p.m. today. The Braves defeated fifth-seeded Kelly 85-49 in Tuesday's first semifinal.

"They're a very well-coached team. They're very good. They have eight kids that can all shoot the basketball. They can all handle it. They have eight very good basketball players," Shoemaker said about SCC. "*... They're going to be a tough challenge for us, but hopefully our kids will come out. I'm just worried about a little mental letdown after tonight.

"We just have to keep going forward and not take a step backwards."

Oran opened the game with a trey from Schlosser at the top of the left arc and added another 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter to give the Eagles a 14-3 lead.

Jacob Priggel followed with a trey of his own to spark a 14-4 Oran run to close the quarter. The Eagles held a comfortable 28-7 advantage heading into the second period.

"I thought we went out and played with a lot of intensity," Shoemaker said. "Our kids really wanted it. We were on fire in the first half, and that helps when you hit a lot of shots. We rebounded well and didn't turn the ball over. We kind of put them in a hole, and it was hard for Scott City. They fought the whole time, but we kind of battled with them and won every quarter tonight. So I was proud of the kids' effort."

Priggel and Schlosser combined for 24 points in the first quarter and continuously knocked down open shots.

"We didn't have any resistance defensively. We tried everything. We went to zones. We went to pressing zones. We went to man-to-man," Dannenmueller said. "We just couldn't guard them, and yeah, give their kids credit. They stepped up and made shots no doubt, but when you're wide open like that, it's pretty easy to knock them things down."

Priggel added six of his 18 points in the second quarter. The Rams (11-5) were outscored 15-11 during the period and trailed 43-18 at halftime.

"No. 1, their effort was great. We had people diving on loose balls, getting extra possessions, and we did stay focused," Shoemaker said. "We were in position defensively. We moved without the ball on offense, and we shared the ball well."

The Eagles pushed their lead to 61-29 at the end of the third quarter and forced a running clock during the final period.

Dannenmueller said his team struggled to shoot against a familiar defense.

"They just ran a 2-3 zone and matched up out of it. We acted like we'd never seen that before, and we run it ourselves," Dannenmueller said. "We see it every day in practice. Everything we went over, we had about four or five key points that we went over.

"We told them before the game exactly what Oran was going to do, what we were going to have to do to beat them. And they absolutely dominated us in all five areas, so it is what it is. No excuses. The better team won tonight."

Braden Cox finished with 10 points to lead Scott City, which will take on Kelly in the third-place game at 7 p.m. today.

"You've got to come out and hopefully take something positive away so you can learn from it and play tomorrow," Dannenmueller said. "It's a short turnaround, and if we come out and we play the exact same way we played tonight, we're not going to have a chance tomorrow."

Oran 28 15 18 9 -- 70

Scott City 7 11 11 8 -- 37

ORAN (70) -- Hunter Schlosser 28, Jacob Priggel 18, Max Priggel 8, Thomas Trankler 8, Jason Bennett 4, Blake Overfield 2, Garrison Mangels 2. FG 25, FT 17-20, F 11. (3-pointers: Schlosser 2, J. Priggel 1. Fouled out: none.)

SCOTT CITY (37) -- Braden Cox 10, Brock Uelsmann 8, Jordan Kluesner 6, Isiah Berry 5, Dylan Keller 3, Trent Pobst 2, Nick Bickings 2, Drew Short 1. FG 14, FT 7-10, F 16. (3-pointers: Keller 1, Cox 1. Fouled out: none.)