Scott County Central boys complete season sweep of Oran basketball team

ORAN -- When it comes to Oran and Scott County Central, it's all or nothing.

Last season the Eagles broke a decade long drought against the Braves to sweep their three-game season series.

SCC turned the tide back in its favor Friday by picking up its third and final win in this year's series with an 85-68 decision at the Eagles' homecoming.

"It's hard to play Oran because they're really good," Braves' coach Frank Staple said. "We've played them three times this year, and they've been three battles. So I have all the respect in the world for them. I'm just glad it's over."

The Braves grabbed a little momentum late in the second quarter after a back-and-forth first half to take a 38-33 lead into halftime. SCC pulled ahead by double-digits midway through the third period, but Oran closed to within eight points, 65-57, entering the fourth.

Playing catch up all game soon got the best of the Eagles when the Braves put together their best five-minute stretch of the game. They outscored Oran 16-6 during the run to pull ahead by 18 points with just over three minutes to play.

SCC then slowed down the tempo the final four minutes of the game and forced the Eagles to send them to the line. They connected on nine straight free throws at one point and finished the fourth quarter 11 of 13 at the foul line to close out the win.

"Like I always say, any win is a good win," Staple said. "Obviously there is some things I think we have to work on a little bit, but I thought in the fourth quarter we buckled down and were able to get some stops and had some better offensive possessions to pull away a little bit."

"We were giving up too many easy layups, so I think we just kind of locked down defensively. We were trying to get out and run the whole game, and finally that fourth quarter we were able to do it."

As a team the Braves shot 32 of 59 (54 percent) from the field. They only committed nine turnovers and went 17 of 23 (74 percent) at the free-throw line.

Senior LaRandis Banks and sophomore Jeffery Porter tied for team-high honors with 21 points. Banks hit on 9 of 16 shots from the floor and grabbed four rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals.

Porter also had four rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. He went a perfect 10 of 10 at the foul line, all coming in the fourth quarter.

Kendall Blissett was the third Brave in double-figures, scoring 14 points and grabbing a team-high six rebounds.

"They're going to go on runs, and we knew it, but we have to limit them," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said about the Braves. "We had to spend so much energy trying to get back into it. We gambled a little bit with the press and gave up some layups. But that's how I am. We're going to try and gamble and see what we can do. It just didn't work out for us."

Oran received a 27-point performance from senior Seth Ressel. He had 11 points in the first quarter to help give the Eagles a one-point advantage entering the second period. Ressel finished the game 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.

Hunter Schlosser had 15 points for the Eagles, including 11 in the third quarter, and Thomas Trankler pitched in 10 points.

Oran was without the services of Chance Tenkhoff, who was hurt in the Eagles' contest against Bloomfield, a 74-49 win, on Tuesday.

"They're tough for us to match up with our bigger lineup without Tenkhoff," Shoemaker said about the Braves. "We have to go a little bit bigger and we're slower. We really struggled to match up man. They're well coached and sound. They got the lead and they pulled it out and forced us to go man. We're kind of struggling to guard man with our lineup right now."

The loss broke a six-game winning streak for the Eagles, who dropped to 19-6. Half of the losses are to SCC, which won its eighth straight game. The Braves, ranked second in Class 1, improved to 16-4.

SCC 23 15 27 20 -- 85

Oran 24 9 24 11 -- 68

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (85) -- Juwan Owens 9, LaRandis Banks 21, Jeffery Porter 21, Kendall Blissett 16, Javonte Daniel 4, Cameron Blissett 7, Matthew Blissett 7. FG 32, FT 17-23, F 19. (3-pointers: Owens 1, Banks 2, Porter 1. Fouled out: none.)

ORAN (85) -- Thomas Trankler 10, Jacob Priggel 8, Seth Ressel 27, Garrison Mangels 6, Hunter Schlosser 15, Chase Asmus 2. FG 22, FT 22-29, F 19. (3-pointers: Ressel 1, Schlosser 1. Fouled out: none.)