No. 2 Wilkes-Barre Dashes Eagles Tourney Hopes

Kameron Shockley protects the ball from a Lions defender and scored 22 points.  (Photo by Rob Brindley)
Kameron Shockley protects the ball from a Lions defender and scored 22 points. (Photo by Rob Brindley)

Nobody said it was going to be easy and it wasn't!

For the second straight day, the Kent State Tuscarawas basketball team faced a top ranked opponent. And, for the second straight day, they were locked in mortal combat in their young tournament lives. And, for the second straight day, they lost by a mere five points.

They played well enough to win, but went cold at the wrong juncture of the game. Good teams like USCAA DII No. 2 ranked and No. 2 tournament seed Penn State Wilkes-Barre, find a way to exploit those weak moments and did in knocking off the upstart Golden Eagles 78-73.

Nobody could fault the Golden Eagles effort, even when they trailed by 13 points near the midpoint of the final 20 minutes. Heck, the Eagles even owned a first half lead of eight points and began the game with two steals and two thunderous dunks to take a 10-4 lead over a stunned Wilkes-Barre (23-6).

The loss ended the Eagles tournament hopes and kept them one win shy of a 20-win season. Their record slipped to 19-10.

Leading 18-17 with 10:44 to go in the first half, KSU Tusc turned up the heat and scored seven straight points for a 25-17 lead with the clock showing 8:52. Kyle Shockley started things with a pair of free throws, followed by a JaJuantae Young freebie, and two buckets from London Cobbs off a Cobbs steal and an assist by DeJuan Lawrence off an offensive rebound.

The Lions fought back as they took advantage of three misfires on KSU Tusc offensive sets and three Eagles turnovers cutting the lead to 25-23. From there the two teams jousted for traction and the half ended 39-35 with the Eagles on top.

With 17:52 left to go in the final half, the Eagles were forced to take a timeout after Wilkes-Barre started heating up from behind the arc. The Lions abandoned their inside presence, kicking the ball out as the Eagles help defense collapsed and sunk two triples and a fade away jumper to force a 43-43 tie.

Some external force seemed to take control of the Eagles offensive attack, as they abandoned the timeout strategy of getting to the hoop and tossed up three errant bombs as if they were in panic mode, or simply trying to match the Lions success from behind the arc. Their Navy and Gold offense became stagnant and they soon found themselves mired in a 10-point, 53-43 hole four and one-half minutes later.

Oh, the Eagles still struggled to score and managed just three points over the next three and one-half minutes and trailed 59-46 before finding the "on" switch with 9:45 left in the game. A sorely needed bucket rescued them from nearly eight minutes of offensive drought.

Game over! Not on your life!

A Kameron Shockley basket off a Lawrence rebound provided some ignition, as the Eagles screamed back, cutting the lead to 59-52 with the help of three steals. A WB three-ball reverted the lead back to 10 again (62-52), but the consecutive thefts by Kameron and Kyle Shockley led to a free throw, a lay-up and a dunk to slice the lead in half at 62-57.

The timing of two more Lion long balls couldn't have been more detrimental to Eagles comeback intentions. When the Eagles clawed to within 64-57 and 68-64, a Lions deep shot held them off, increasing the deficits to 10 and seven points respectively. They sank 7/14 second half shots from behind the arc.

Still, the Eagles fought valiantly and just would not go away easily and climbed back to within 76-71. Unfortunately, time was on the side of Wilkes-Barre and it simply ran out on the Eagles.

Even though the Golden Eagles outscored the bigger Lions 38-28 in the paint, converted 17 WB turnovers into 22 points, held a 36-32 rebound edge, stole the ball 14 times on Lion possessions and lost, they showed the small college world that they indeed belong.

Cobbs led the Eagles in scoring with 23 points on the day and Kameron Shockley had 22 of his own. Shockley also led the team in rebounds with 11, had four steals and two assists. Kyle Shockley added 18 points and was a perfect 8/8 from the free throw line. He also made four steals.

For the tournament, Kameron Shockley was among the best as he scored 63 points (21ppg), grabbed 28 rebounds, had 14 steals and 10 assists.

Vinny Roper and Jordan Stevens give chase to a Wilkes-Barre player who loses his balance near half court.

London Cobbs heads down court for a layup and led the Eagles in scoring with 23 points.

JaJuantae Young works his way around a bigger Wilkes-Barre defender.

Kyle Shockley crashes through the Wilkes-Barre defense and scored 18 points.

DeJuan Lawrence dunks home two points against Wilkes-Barre.