There was a block party going on at the Golden Eagles Christmas Classic on Wednesday evening. KSU Tusc dominated the lane early in taking out Penn State Fayette by a 79—51 count and ruled the air around the basket. They finished with a bushel basket of blocked shots and rebounds.
Early in the game the Eagles had 9-1 lead as they turned up the pressure on the Roaring Lions. With a 19-3 lead at 12:42 of the first half, the Eagles knocked three consecutive PSF shots off their intended mark and then stole the ball, which led to a resounding Kameron Shockley dunk on the opposite end of the floor.
A little later in the half, London Cobbs and JaJuantae Young both canned three-balls sandwiched around a DeJuan Lawrence stick back off his own missed dunk for a 31-11 advantage. The two prettiest plays of the game however, happened after those lightning bolts staked the Eagles to the 20-point lead.
After gathering an offensive rebound in the lane, Kameron Shockley made a beautiful no-look feed to a hoop cutting Vinnie Roper on the right block for an easy deuce, but the Eagles weren't done in the lane just yet. Gabe Green also gathered in a missed shot and it appeared he was going to toss the ball outside for a wide open three. He showed the ball to the defenders, but quickly reverse pivoted to the baseline amongst the trees and laid the ball of the window and into the net for a 40-13 lead with 3:27 left in the opening half.
The half ended how it began with an offensive kickout rebound to Lawrence in the deep left corner for a triple and a 45-21 lead at the intermission.
With 18:02 left in the game, the free subbing Eagles built a 30-point margin that was stretched to 31 (69-38) with five minutes left to play. The night ended with a huge win for the Eagles coming off road loss over the weekend.
Lawrence led 11 Eagles who made the scorebook with 22 points and recorded his fourth straight double-double with 14 rebounds. Cobbs was next with 14 and Kameron Shockley added 10 to go along with 11 boards. The Eagles held a decided 56-36 rebound advantage---had 18 rebounds on the offensive glass---blocked eight shots and also had 13 steals.
KSU Tusc is now 8-4 on the season and host Westminster College on Thursday at 2 p.m.. The Titans fell to Miami Hamilton 70-61 in the opening game of the classic. Miami Hamilton will play against Penn State Fayette in the early game at noon. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Gabe Green drives the lane against the Roaring Lions.
DeJuan Lawrence led the Eagles with 22 points.
ZaMar Harris reads the defense from the point.
(Photos by Lindsey Nicholson)