Oran uses late run to overcome Central

Bell City is not the only Class 1 school that has earned a trip to the semifinals of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament.

Oran, seeded fifth, used a late 6-0 run to take control of a back-and-forth contest as the Eagles knocked off fourth-seeded Cape Girardeau Central 66-57 in a quarterfinal game Friday night at the Show Me Center.

The Eagles (6-2) will play top-seeded Charleston at 6 p.m. tonight. The Tigers (6-3) fall into the fifth-place semifinals, where they will take on Kelly at 3 p.m. today.

Nathan Seyer had a monster game for the Eagles. The 6-foot-2 senior, despite having to go against Central's 6-8 sophomore Scott Chestnutt much of the way, dominated on the inside to the tune of 29 points.

Seyer scored six straight points in the late going as the Eagles expanded a shaky 55-54 lead into a commanding 61-54 advantage with two minutes remaining. Central never threatened after that.

Ryne Wood added 13 points for the Eagles and Patrick Friga scored 10.

Central got 16 points from Chestnutt and 12 from Mitch Craft.

Oran fell behind 10-6 in the first quarter but used a 10-0 run to grab a 16-10 lead later in the period, which ended with the Eagles ahead 18-15.

Things were nip-and-tuck virtually the rest of the way. Central grabbed a 26-23 lead in the second quarter, but Oran used a 9-0 spurt to go up 32-26 and the Eagles held a 32-28 halftime advantage.

The third quarter featured eight lead changes and five ties, including 46-46 at the end of the period.

In the fourth quarter, there were six more lead changes and two more ties until the Eagles finally went ahead 55-53 midway through the period. After Central pulled to within 55-54, Seyer took over with his personal 6-0 run to give the Eagles enough breathing room.

Charleston 69, Kelly 44

For a little over a half of play the Kelly Hawks looked like they would give the Christmas Tournament's perennial powerhouse Charleston Blue Jays a tight game, but the Blue Jays steadied the ship in the second half and cruised to a win in a quarterfinal game.

Kelly, seeded ninth, used a strong shooting performance early on to grab a 14-10 first quarter lead.

Charleston stayed in it early with the outside shot, with four of its first five buckets three-pointers.

Ashton Farmer's putback early in the second quarter gave the Blue Jays their first lead at 15-14, and Kewain Gant's eight second quarter points helped Charleston take the lead for good at 27-26 with a little over a minute left in the half.

"We have a tendency to start it out slow," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said.

The Blue Jays (8-2) picked up their defensive intensity in the second half, applying full-court pressure right from the start. This added pressure forced Kelly into several turnovers, and appeared to drain the Hawks of the high-energy play they showed in the first half.

As the Hawks (4-4) slowed down, their shots became less and less accurate. Kelly only scored three field goals in the third quarter, and saw the Blue Jays outscore them 19-8.

"When you loose your legs the shot goes," Kelly coach Nick Lanpher said.

The Blue Jays continued their pressure into the fourth quarter, and used an 11-0 run to push the lead to 30 points. Marcus Biles led the way for Charleston with 18 points. The Blue Jays big men, 6-foot-6 Farmer and 6-8 Gant, had 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Biles said the teams depth and energy in the second half was the key.

"We started moving a lot more on offense," he said. "The guys came off the bench and contributed."

Major Burger led the Hawks with 11 points.

-- Jeremy Joffray, staff report