The Golden Eagles played the role of David against host Thomas More University in first round action of the Connor Classic on Friday night, but Goliath escaped this time around pulling out a hard fought 96-95 win in overtime on their home floor. It wasn't as easy as they thought it might be, as the Eagles showed a lot of heart and hustle against their NAIA opponent.
The Navy and Gold started slowly falling behind 6-0 in the first minute of the game and trailed by as many as 11 points (28-17). The deficit was 10 at 32-22 when they loaded their slings and scored 10 straight points to tie things at 32-32 on slashes to the hoop by Andre Leavell and Malik Campbell. Gunnar Tharp added a huge three in the middle of the run for KSU Tusc who trailed 42-39 at halftime, as Leavell and Campbell combined for 21 first half points on 9/14 shooting.
The two teams traded punches to start the second half and after a Leavell trey from the deep right corner pocket at 15:02, the Saints gained the upper hand and forced six consecutive empty Eagles possessions as they controlled the rock and vaulted to a 18 point lead at 68-50. A basket by Leavell stopped the bleeding and a 15-0 TMU run, as KSU outscored the hosts 10-2 to trim the lead to 70-60.
It looked like Thomas More was finally going to squash David once again, as they built a 13-point lead (81-68) with 4:51 left in regulation. The Eagles however, found their footing and tossed the rock through the nets scoring seven unanswered points to close to 81-75, on Campbell's two layups after steals and a long distance bomb by Tharp with 2:20 left.
The score stood 85-81 in favor of the Saints before the Eagles balled up and forced a backcourt violation with :48 left. Tharp made a step-back deuce to cut the lead to 85-83 before two free throws gave TMU an 87-83 lead with just 19 seconds left. The stage was set once again for a valiant Eagles comeback.
Campbell made a driving layup and after two missed Saints free throws, Leavell made an acrobatic shot in the lane with :09 remaining to tie the game 87-87 and the impossible seemed very possible once again. Thomas More missed a shot near the lane just before the buzzer and the game was sent to overtime.
The Eagles grabbed their first lead of the game in OT on a RaShawn Robinson bucket and took a four point lead (93-90) when Leavell made another strong take to the rim. Campbell made another cut to the hoop for a 95-92 lead with 30 ticks left, but the Saints made four free throws to take a 96-95 lead. KSU Tusc had time to fire one last volley from their arsenal and missed a shot and tip at the rim as time expired.
Television media from Thomas More had high praise for the Golden Eagles saying they were "fun to watch", were "clutch" and wanted to know "what they are putting in their Wheaties" after such a gutsy effort.
Leavell led KSU Tusc with 23 points canning 3/5 three-point shots and 11/21 field goals to go along with six rebounds. Campbell scored 23 points on 11/16 shooting and had eight assists and six boards, while Tharp added 20 points making 7/13 field goals and 6/9 three-point shots and also dished out seven assists. For the game the Eagles shot 51% from the field (40/78) and made 10/24 shots from behind the arc.
Thomas More improved to 8-0 on the year, while the Eagles fell to 2-4 and return to action in Connor Classic at noon on Saturday against D-III Defiance College.