Bogan gives Cubs lift into Oran championship game

ORAN, Mo. -- Bell City rode the broad shoulders of junior Will Bogan to advance to the final of the Oran Invitational boys basketball tournament.

With the score tied at 51-51, Bogan hit a putback layup at the buzzer for a 53-51 Bell City victory over Malden in Thursday's semifinal.

The 6-foot-10, 300-pound Bogan recorded a double-double with 31 points, many off putbacks, and 16 rebounds.

"He's just getting better and better," Bell City coach Brian Brandtner said. "He's a handful already and I hope, by the end of the year, he'll be even better."

Bell City plays top-seeded Twin Rivers tonight in the 8 p.m. championship game. Twin Rivers edged No. 4 Advance 68-66.

Advance will play Malden in the third-place game at 6:30 tonight.

Malden, although missing one starter and three top reserves out for disciplinary reasons, forced the game to the wire with only eight players.

"All eight of those kids have big hearts," said first-year Malden coach Robert Ison. "The kids played hard, gave it all they had."

Bell City led 12-8 early and 16-8 after one period, but Malden closed to 27-23 by halftime.

Malden's 5-9 point guard, Alonzo Louis, rang up 10 of his team-high 20 points in the third period as the Green Wave closed to within 38-37.

Bell City lost the lead for the first time at 42-40. With Malden up 44-40, Bogan hit a breakaway dunk with 5 minutes to go to pull within two, then hit a 3-point play to retake the lead at 45-44.

Quentin Gorden's two free throws pushed Malden ahead 46-45 before Bogan's jumper reclaimed the lead for Bell City at 47-46.

Bogan picked up his fourth foul at 1:59. Quentin Franks converted both foul shots to again push the Green Wave up at 48-47.

"We wanted to get him in foul trouble and get him out of there," Ison said.

That plan failed.

Two successive buckets by Bogan lifted the Cubs to a 51-48 advantage, but the Green Wave's Gorden knocked down a clutch trey to tie with 16 seconds remaining to set the stage for the winning shot.

Twin Rivers 68, Advance 66

Advance fell behind 32-25 by halftime and was down nine points heading into the final period.

But Twin Rivers made just seven of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter. Overall, the Royals shot just 16-for-34 from the line.

Alex Steil led Advance (1-1) with 21 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Jeremy Limbaugh added 17 points for Advance, and Daryl Wade finished with 11.

Michael Lance led all scorers for Twin Rivers with 29 points.

TWIN RIVERS 68, ADVANCE 66

Advance 17 8 19 22 -- 66

Twin Rivers 16 16 21 15 -- 68

ADVANCE (64) -- Jordan Seabaugh 7, Jeremy Limbaugh 17, Daryl Wade 11, Alex Steil 21, Josh Bailey 2, James Masters 2, Trenton Moses 6. FG 23, FT 15-20, F 26 (3-pointers: Seabaugh 1, Limbaugh 2, Wade 1, Steil 1. Fouled out: Bailey)

TWIN RIVERS (66) -- Cornell 1, McBroon 9, Fowler 11, Moore 3, Lance 29, Adams 14. FG 24, FT 16-34, F 17 (3-pointers: Fowler 3, Lance 1. Fouled out: none)