Thirty minutes and 55 seconds. That's how long the Villa Maria Vikings held the lead over the Golden Eagles on Wednesday night in Buffalo.
If there is just one thing I have learned however, is this KSU Tusc team plays with a lot of moxie and although they may get down you can never count them out. By comparison, the Eagles led for just five minutes and 15 seconds, but that's all they needed as the USCAA No. 7 ranked team downed the No. 9 team 79-70.
The Eagles got off to a wobbly start despite a London Cobbs triple that gave them a brief 9-6 lead at the 16:24 mark of the first half. But the Vikings forced five KSU Tusc turnovers, knocked home five triples, and added a 13-0 spurt to abscond with the lead and a 14-point advantage that had the Eagles reeling. Although the Navy and Gold sliced the lead to five (34-29) they fell behind 42-31 at halftime.
In the early moments of the final 20 minutes, the Vikings mounted a charge again and took a 47-33 lead. With 15:20 showing on the game clock, the Eagles positioned themselves for a run with a DeJuan Lawrence bank shot and pair of charity tosses along with two more freebies from Kyle Shockley cutting the lead to 47-39.
Kameron Shockley helped the Eagles further find some feeling in their five-hour bus ride legs with two straight steals and a huge dunk at 13:01 that lit up the Villa Maria crowd. His thefts helped chop the lead to 50-43.
However, the Vikings weren't done yet and held off the KSU rally with a three-ball taking a 10-point (57-47) lead forcing an Eagles timeout.
That timeout and subsequent trapping defensive adjustment reenergized the Golden Eagles. They tormented the Vikings like a pack of wolves with heavy ball pressure, contested shots and crashed the boards with reckless abandon that thoroughly upset the Vikings mojo.
First, they got a Kameron Shockley lay in. Then, they stole the inbounds pass for another hoop before London Cobbs stole the ball and raced the length of the court making a shot at the rim while getting fouled on an old-fashioned three-point play slicing the deficit to 57-54 with 6:46 left. On Villa's ensuing possession a rebound was tapped outside by Lawrence and collected by Cobbs who was fouled on the breakaway. He made two free throws and the game was knotted 57-57 with 5:15 left.
The chaos continued for the Vikings as the Eagles rung up 19 straight points, taking the lead for good (60-57) on a steal by Kameron Shockley for a driving lay up and foul shot. The assault continued after a quick Eagles timeout after Shockley's basket. Probably the prettiest play of the stretch came by JaJuantae Young who stole the ball and raced downcourt, pushing a one-handed pass to Shockley for another thunderous slam.
Two Villa Maria free throws stopped the jailbreak, but the damage had been done and the Eagles had a 68-57 lead with only 1:49 remaining in the game. The Eagles pushed the lead to 12 points at 74-62 as they kept up the pressure to the end.
Kameron Shockley led all scorers with 29 points shooting a phenomenal 11/15 from the floor and sinking 5/7 free throws. Cobbs was next with 22 points, converting 7/8 charity tosses. DeJuan Lawrence scored 18 points and hauled down 14 rebounds for his 13th double-double on the season. He made 6/9 action shots, 6/7 free throws and blocked three shots.
As a team the Eagles shot 45% from the floor on 29/65 field goals. They also made 18/22 free throws (82%), committed just 12 turnovers, outscored Villa Maria 31-6 in bench points and made 13 steals.
Now 15-7 on the year, the Eagles travel to Terra State on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. tip.
London Cobbs breaks the press and scored 22 points against the Vikings.
DeJuan Lawrence recorded his 13th double-double of the season and London Cobbs gets an inside basket. Photos by Jason Keller