Ressel's steady diet of points leads Eagles to 95-63 win over Ellington

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Oran senior Seth Ressel wanted to silence his naysayers Tuesday night.

After a 26-point first half and a 33-point performance in his team's 95-63 thumping of Ellington in a Class 2 District 3 semifinal at Chaffee High School, Ressel was satisfied that he had quieted those who doubted him.

The doubters in this case happened to be his teammates, and they weren't questioning his play so much as his dinner choices.

"I felt good tonight," Ressel said. "I don't know -- for some reason I felt good. My teammates were making fun of me because I had spaghetti without the sauce, so I told them to shut up because it worked."

It was a oversight rather than a carb-loading strategy.

Oran senior Seth Ressel is fouled by an Ellington player during the Eagles’ 95-63 win over the Whippets in the Class 2 District 3 basketball tournament Tuesday at Chaffee High School. (Adam Vogler)

"I just forgot to put sauce in my spaghetti," Ressel said. "I was in a hurry."

The entire Oran team was in a hurry once they stepped onto the court. The top-seeded Eagles (21-7) opened the game with a full-court press and kept pushing the tempo the entire game.

"I felt that maybe we could get the tempo where we needed with the press early in the game, get it going up and down a little bit," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "I felt our guard play might be a little bit stronger than theirs."

The Eagles employ their press regularly during the season, but hadn't used it as much since senior Chance Tenkhoff was lost for the season with a leg injury.

"With Chance we were doing that a lot," Ressel said of the full-court pressure. "And when we went to the not-as-quick lineup we kind of played back, but tonight we knew we were quicker than them in all areas, so we got up and pressured."

Oran began to separate itself with a 13-0 run that started with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first quarter and lasted until just 1:45 remained in the first half. The run featured two 3-pointers, a runner in the lane, and a drive all the way to the basket for Ressel.

"It was very nice," Shoemaker said about Ressel's early scoring spree. "When he can get in the lane like he did -- the thing is he's so unselfish with the basketball. There was times he beat his man and probably could have scored, but because help came he kicked out and we got some open 3s for his teammates, which really helped everybody else get going."

Oran was 5 of 10 from behind the arc in the first half, which seemed to open up more lanes to the basket as the game progressed.

"I felt like they might pack it in on us and give us the perimeter shot," Shoemaker said. "We hit one or two and it was kind of contagious and got going. Let's just hope that keeps going."

Ellington coach Jeff Berry said the Eagles hadn't shot so well when he scouted them.

"They were quick. We knew they were going to be quick and when we watched them play they hadn't shot very well, but we knew that they could shoot," Berry said. "We can't say that they can't shoot because we knew. We just didn't check shooters very well, and that's what we needed to adjust. We didn't do it very well."

Oran led 58-39 at halftime after a first half that featured 74 combined shots and both team shooting above 50 percent from the field.

"We needed to defend a little bit better," Shoemaker said. "It's tough giving up 39 points at halftime and win ballgames."

The Eagles did just that in the third quarter, forcing 12 turnovers in the quarter and extending their lead to 80-52 entering the fourth.

"We knew they were going to run, we knew they were going to press," Berry said. 'We talked about not turning the ball over and trying to get back on defense, stop their transition. And we just didn't do that very well this evening."

Jacob Priggel added 21 points for Oran and Hunter Schlosser had 17.

Fourth-seeded Ellington was led by 20 points from Dylan Pogue and 15 from freshman standout Marshon Morrissey, who was the focus of the Oran defense.

"Really just guard [Morrissey]," said Schlosser about the Eagles' pregame plan. "That was our main thing, just guard 55."

The Eagles will face Advance in the district championship game for a fourth consecutive season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Chaffee.

"I'm just ready to play the next game," said Ressel before his team's opponent had been decided. "Oh, I'm ready to play the next game."

Ellington 21 18 13 11 -- 63

Oran 31 27 22 15 -- 95

ELLINGTON (63) -- Shaun Chilton 8, Jordan Santuff 9, Wyatt Tarvid 4, Dylan Pogue 20, Hunter Hathcoat 7, Marshon Morrissey 15. FG 25, FT 7-11, F 18. (3-pointers: Chilton 2, Santuff 3, Pogue 1. Fouled out: none)

ORAN (95) -- Max Priggel 5, Thomas Trankler 13, Jacob Priggel 21, Seth Ressel 33, Garrison Mangels 2, Hunter Schlosser 17, Eric Westrich 4. FG 34, FT 12-19, F 17. (3-pointers: J. Priggel 3, Ressel 4, Schlosser 2. Fouled out: none)