Semoball

Oran, East Prairie boys basketball teams claim wins in Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament semifinals

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament will come down to a battle of the Eagles.

The top-seeded Oran boys basketball used a strong second half to prevail past No. 4 Scott County Central 77-60 in its semifinal Friday night, while No. 3 East Prairie easily downed seventh-seeded Kelly 78-47 in the other semifinal at Chaffee High School, seting up a matchup between rivals in Saturday's championship game.

"We can go back to junior high with these groups, and it's been a battle every year," East Prairie coach Casey Knight said of the clash with Oran. "No matter who has won, it's been a war that's come down to the last few minutes or seconds of the game, and we expect nothing less tomorrow."

East Prairie (13-3) has won the last five matchups between the two programs -- though three were decided by a single possession -- including a 68-59 victory earlier this season.

Oran's last victory in the series was Dec. 16, 2014.

It's safe to say that the defending Class 2 state champions won't lack for motivation.

"(There's) a lot," Oran junior Jacob Shoemaker said of that motivation. "I think they've beat me every year since I was in sixth grade."

It was Shoemaker who led the charge for the Eagles (13-3) against the Braves (7-10), scoring 31 points to lead all scorers on the day.

It was a big effort for the guard, who has been looking for consistency on the offensive end this season.

"Just tried to play as hard as I could the entire time, and my teammates really helped me get open and get shots. And I was able to hit them today, unlike other days," Shoemaker said.

Cole Priggel added 15 points for Oran, while Layne Johnson and Todd Priggel each had 11.

The Braves were paced by 20 points from Titus Fields and 17 points from Garry Wilkerson.

Little separated Oran and SCC at halftime -- only a Shoemaker 3-pointer just before the buzzer -- as the Eagles clung to a 41-38 lead midway through the game. But things changed in the second half.

The game remained tied as late as the 5-minutes, 21-second mark of the third quarter, when Fields got into the paint to make the score 45-all.

Just over 10 seconds later, Todd Priggel scored on the other end to take a 47-45 edge, and the Eagles never trailed again.

"Coach, he just kept telling us we had to play defense and do the little things we weren't doing in the second half," Shoemaker said. "We were a little lackadaisical, and we started tightening that up in the second half."

The top seed went on a decisive 12-2 swing with 2:53 remaining in the third quarter, capped by a Todd Priggel catch and score off an inbound play with 0.6 seconds left. The bucket gave Oran a 62-50 edge heading into the final period.

SCC got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, as the Eagles put together a late 8-0 run -- with three buckets by Shoemaker -- to stretch the final advantage.

While Oran took a while to get into gear, the rival Eagles had no such trouble in the second semifinal.

Twenty-four hours after it needed overtime to advance past No. 6 Delta in Thursday's quarterfinal, East Prairie used an 11-0 run, fueled by three consecutive 3s from Derez Tipler, to open up a 13-2 advantage just three minutes into the contest.

By the time the opening quarter came to a close, the third seed was up comfortably, 22-5.

The Eagles were 7 of 10 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 11 of 18 (61.1 percent) from beyond the arc.

"Those last three minutes of regulation last night (against Delta), we showed a lot of resilience, down nine or 10 and then to force overtime and win," Knight said. "It was good to see that roll over into tonight."

When Drew Dirnberger scored for Kelly with 2:38 on the clock to cap a 7-0 swing, it did little but put a dent in the deficit, as the Hawks (5-10) got as close as 18 points but still trailed East Prairie 41-22 at the half.

Kelly used another run midway through the third period to get as close as 13 points, but the Eagles called a timeout and soon thereafter found their long-distance stroke again, rolling out on a 13-2 swing that put the game away.

It was a 30-point differential early in the fourth quarter as the third seed breezed into the championship.

"It's good to get our blood flowing again and get our lungs back, and we set the tone tonight with what we needed to do get to the championship. And that was our goal: to get to Oran again," Knight said.

"... We were fortunate enough tonight to see those shots fall and get to pumping on all cylinders, but tomorrow night's going to be who brings the mental fortitude the longest."

Oran and East Prairie tip off in the title game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

SCC and Kelly face off in the third-place game at 1:30 p.m.

Oran 77, Scott County Central 60

Scott CC23151210--60
Oran21202115--77

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (60) -- Titus Fields 20, Landon Estes 4, Keshawn Sanders 9, Landon Glueck 10, Garry Wilkerson 17. FG 24, FT 8-13, F 14. (3-pointers: Glueck 2, Fields, Wilkerson. Fouled out: None.)

ORAN (77) -- Jacob Shoemaker 31, Layne Johnson 11, Cole Priggel 15, Todd Priggel 11, Drew Reischman 6. FG 31, FT 11-14, F 12. (3-pointers: Shoemaker 3, Johnson. Fouled out: None.)

East Prairie 78, Kelly 47

Kelly5171510--47
E. Prairie22192314--78

KELLY (47) -- Devin Heuring 5, Bryce Morgan 16, Peyton Efftink 11, Quinton Lacey 4, Drew Dirnberger 2, Christian Worley 3, Grant Menz 6. FG 17, FT 7-13, F 12. (3-pointers: Morgan 3, Heuring, Eftink, Menz. Fouled out: Lacey.)

EAST PRAIRIE (78) -- Luke Marcum 11, Derez tipler 19, Jon Ross Slayden 14, Brian Shoffner 2, Brian Merryman 11, Hunter Scott 7, Mason Bryars 9, Tyler McCurter 5. FG 29, FT 9-12, F 14. (3-pointers: Tipler 6, Marcum 3, Bryars, McCurter. Fouled out: None.)

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