Taller Malden team defeats Oran in third-place game at OIT

A young team is often an inconsistent team, and the Oran Eagles embodied that Friday night in the third-place game of their own Oran Invitational Tournament.

In a sporadic performance, the fourth-seeded Eagles fell 55-41 to second-seeded Malden.

The roller-coaster ride for a squad that starts a freshman at point guard as wells as two sophomores, included falling into a 16-point hole less than three minutes into the second quarter, before cutting the deficit to two points by halftime by scoring the final 12 points of the second quarter.

However, another free fall ensued as the Eagles avoided a scoreless third quarter when junior Max Priggel sank a 25-foot shot at the buzzer. It ended a 17-0 run by Malden that all but sealed their fate.

"We buried ourselves in a hole," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "We've done that the last couple of games and fought back. We used so much energy coming back.

"Tonight we scored just one bucket in the third quarter, and you ain't going to win ballgames doing that. We have a lot of areas to improve upon by the end of the year."

Oran did manage to cut the deficit to 10 points, 47-37, midway through the fourth quarter, but a much taller and experienced Green Wave team answered with a 7-0 burst to snuff any possible drama.

Junior guard Trevor Ison led Malden with 15 points, while 6-foot-5 senior Tyler Ison added 15 points.

Malden, which improved to 2-1 after getting thrashed by third-seeded Advance 81-44 in the semifinals, has a 13-man roster composed of all juniors and seniors with three players listed at 6-3 or taller. Oran has three players listed at 6-0 or taller, topping out with 6-2 senior Blake Schlitt, who comes off the bench.

Despite the mismatch in size, the Green Wave launched five 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the game, hitting on two of them.

"They hit some shots that maybe they didn't hit earlier in the tournament, I'll take my hat off to them, but they're so much bigger than us and more athletic,we had to pack it in, but when you're helping with 5-10 on 6-5 sometimes, it's just not enough," Shoemaker said.

Oran, which needed to shoot from the outside, missed its only two 3-point attempts in the first quarter, which ended with Madlen leading 17-8.

The Green Wave had scored the final five points of the first quarter, and Malden senior Dishon Ross opened the second with his second 3-pointer, and Nikylus Thompson and Reggie Reed followed with inside baskets to open a 24-8 lead with 5 minutes, 56 left in the half.

Oran freshman Jacob Shoemaker ended the 12-0 spurt with a 3-pointer,

Malden led 27-13 on a free throw by Trevor Ison with more than four minutes left in the half, but the Green Wave would not score again in the half.

Senior Garrett Mangles started Oran's 12-0 run with a free throw with 3:55 left in the half. Sophomore Layne Johnson connected on a pair of 3-pointers and Jacob Shoemaker added a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 27-25 at halftime.

After shooting 45 percent from the field and hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers in the first half, Oran shot 27 percent in the second half and hit on just 2-of-9 shots (22 percent) from behind the arc

"Some of that is on me as a coach," coach Shoemaker said. "You can see where our legs get down we start missing jump shots. We've got to get in better shape."

The Eagles fell to 1-2, with their win coming in the first round of the tournament against Bell City.

"We cant' use that as an excuse, but we're very, very young, and there's a learning process that we've got to get through on that," coach Shoemaker said. "Hopefully we'll learn from these losses and continue to get better."

Third place

Oran 8 17 3 13 -- 41

Malden 17 10 17 11 -- 55

ORAN (41) -- Cole Priggel 2, Jacob Shoemaker 13, Max Priggel 6, Preston Hahn 2, Layne Johnson 11, Garrison Mangels 7. FG 16, FT 3-7, F 21 (3-pointers: Shoemaker 3, M. Priggel, Johnson 2. Fouled out: C. Priggel)

MALDEN (53) -- Ross Dishon 6, Nikylus Thompson 9, Tyler Ison 15, Reggie Reed 4, Ned Lee 2, Shamaudre Barber 7, Trevor Ison 12. FG 19, FT 19-27, F 14 (3-pointers: Ross 2. Fouled out: none)

One only had to look as far as the third quarter to see the

Kelly 60, Bell City 58

Maurice Davis scored a game-high 25 points as the Hawks rallied in the fourth quarter to prevail in the consolation final.

Fifth-seeded Bell City (1-2) took a 42--37 lead into the fourth quarter but was outscored 23-16 down the stretch.

Skylar Lemons added 15 points for the sixth-seeded Hawks, who improved to 2-1.

Bobby Wright led the Cubs with 20 points, while Cole Nichols added 18.

Consolation

Kelly 12 12 13 23 -- 60

Bell City 13 15 14 16 -- 58

KELLY (60) -- Ty Householder 8, Levi Alsup 4, Maurice Davis 25, Skylar Lemons 15, Isai Campos 7, Conner Dittlinger 1. FG 22, FT 11-14, F 11 (3-pointers: Householder, Lemons 2, Campos 2. Fouled out: none)

BELL CITY (58) -- Taylor Jackson 6, Kolten Siebert 3, Brandon Abner 5, Cole Nichols 18, Peyton Maddox 7, Bobby Wright 20. FG 24, FT 1-2, F 13 (3-pointers: Jackson 2, Nichols 4, Maddox, Wright 3. Fouled out: Siebert)

All-tournament teams

First team

Preston Wuebker, Advance

Tyus Banks, Scott County Central

Austin Ladd, Advance

Jeffery Porter, Scott County Central

Brian Whitson, Advance

Second team

Dawson Mayo, Advance

Skylar Lemons, Kelly

Armanni Vermellion, Advance

Trevor Ison, Malden

Deven Blackmon, Scott County Central