ORAN CONVERTS A NARROW LOSS INTO CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

All things considered, Oran coach Mitch Wood figures his team had a pretty good showing during the 53rd annual University High School Christmas Tournament.

The Eagles, seeded eighth out of 16 teams, lost their opening-round game by one point to ninth-seeded Woodland.

But Oran came back with three straight victories, capped by Tuesday's 54-52 triumph over Bell City that gave the Eagles the consolation championship signifying ninth place.

"We lost by one, but then we came back to win three in a row, so I think it was a good tournament for us," said Wood, whose squad improved its record to 6-4.

It was also a solid tournament for Bell City, which wound up one slot ahead of its 11th-place seeding. The Cubs are now 6-5.

"Bell City is a really scrappy team," said Wood. "They played hard and so did we. I was really proud of my team."

Dustin Dannenmueller led the Eagles offensively with 14 points while Billy Loper scored 10.

Bell City was paced by Jerrod Eftink with 13 points.

After a slow start that saw the teams tied 2-2 four minutes into the game, things picked up considerably. The Cubs built a 10-4 lead before Oran scored the last eight points of the period, including Daniel Wheeler's 3-point basket just before the buzzer that put the Eagles ahead 14-12.

Oran scored the first eight points of the second period, Justin Hahn's follow shot putting the Eagles ahead 20-12. Bell City rallied to within 24-21 at halftime.

The Cubs pulled to within one point twice in the third quarter before the Eagles spurted late to go ahead 36-29 by the end of the period.

Bell City continued to rally in the fourth quarter and the Cubs finally pulled into a tie as Richard Surface scored five straight points, including two free throws that made it 39-39 with 5:37 left.

Oran scored the next six points to go ahead 45-39, but Bell City was relentless. The Cubs kept clawing back and Jacob Jenkins' 12-foot baseline shot with 12 seconds left tied the contest at 52-all.

With 7.5 seconds left, Hahn was fouled near midcourt and the Oran guard hit one of two free throws to put the Eagles ahead 53-52.

A few seconds later, the Cubs were attempting to inbound the ball near midcourt but they had trouble. A Bell City player attempted to call timeout, but the official ruled a five-second call first, giving possession to Oran.

The Eagles were able to successfully inbound the ball and Loper was intentionally fouled with 1.6 seconds left. He made one of two free throws to account for the final margin.

"I said before the season that we were going to have a lot of those kind of games," said Wood of the narrow victory. "We'll be in most games."