Press defense pushes Oran past Oak Ridge in Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament clash

The No. 8 Oran Eagles defeated the No. 16 Oak Ridge Blue Jays 64-40 in the consolation quarterfinal of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Dec. 27, at the Show Me Center.

The Eagles jumped out to an 11-3 lead and forced the Blue Jays into a timeout. Oak Ridge had trouble with the Eagles' press, forcing turnovers.

When the Jays beat the press, they created shot opportunities but missed many shots. Oran held an 18-8 first-quarter lead.

Oak Ridge found a little more offense in the second but Oran continued to pressure them with the press defense. Oran forced turnovers and turned them into points while also swooping down to take advantage of any Blue Jay mistake.

The Eagles led 34-18 at the half, Oran head coach Corey Davis said he was pleased with how his team executed the press.

“That just brought a lot of energy for us, that got us going. I think we were missing that last night,” Davis. “We tried to do anything we could to get some intensity out of the boys and the press kicked it up a notch for us.”

Quarter number three went better for Oak Ridge, our scoring the Eagles 12-9 but the deficit was simply too much to overcome.

Foul trouble and missed three-point shots hurt the Jays and they trailed 43-30 heading into the final frame.

Oran extended the lead to 20 before both sides unloaded their benches to close out the game. The Eagles move on to the consolation semifinal against Delta on Day 3.

Davis said it was a total team effort to get the win and move in the tournament.

“Our energy was much better than it was last night. I think that was a big difference-maker for us. Just the way that we came out and played with intensity,” Davis said. “I thought we had some guys step in play, some good minutes off the bench. So it was the overall team effort that got us the one tonight.”