The postseason will begin on the road for both the Oberlin and Reeves boys basketball teams.
The LHSAA unveiled on Monday its playoff brackets for boys basketball and the Tigers and Raiders will begin the postseason with road games. Oberlin will visit Delhi in the opening round of the Class 1A playoffs, while Reeves plays at Hackberry in the first round of the Class C playoffs.
For Oberlin, earning a top 25 seed in the playoffs is a step in the right direction for the Tigers program.
Oberlin has made the postseason the past three seasons but has done so as either the No. 30 seed (twice) or the No. 32 seed. In each one of those defeats, the Tigers gave up 79 points and averaged a mere 26.6 points in each game.
“It’s an improvement compared to the playoff seedings over the last few years,” Oberlin head coach Collin McClellan said. “We have a young, inexperienced team, so this will set a good foundation to build on for the next season. But first, we’re focused on potentially pulling off an upset or two.”
The first upset for No. 24 Oberlin (5-17) is a game at No. 9 Delhi (18-12). A program that advanced to the state semifinals a year ago, and was state runner up two seasons ago.
McClellan believes his team is up to the challenge.
“Delhi is a solid team that went to the state semifinals the year before, so we have to step up big time in order to compete with them,” McClellan said. “We’ve played teams of the same caliber all season long to help prepare for the postseason. If we play like we’re capable of, we should be able to stay with them or even upset them.”
The Reeves Raiders will be looking to play spoiler as well in the Class C bracket.
No. 18 Reeves (4-25) travels to play at No. 15 Hackberry (13-18) — a very familiar foe for Reeves.
The two teams played twice this regular season. In the first meeting on December 3rd, Hackberry won 74-54 but in the second meeting on January 28th, Reeves only lost 64-54.
The Raiders will be looking to take that improvement a step further by pulling out a victory.
“Though we haven’t won many games, we are fortunate to be ranked at the No. 16 seed and facing Hackberry in the first round,” Reeves head coach Colby Schexnider said. “Our first matchup we lost by 20, but when we faced them again we adjusted and competed much better. Though our rematch ended in a 10-point loss, there were multiple lead changes in the game. I think if we can stay out of foul trouble we may have a chance to upset them.”
