For the second consecutive day the Golden Eagles took the floor at the Andreasen Center on the campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI. This time, the navy and gold took on the host Cardinals, fellow members of USCAA D2.
It was a battle of teams playing on different trajectories, as the No. 10 Eagles (14-9) faced off against Andrews (5-13). The lone measuring sticks between the two teams were two recent common opponents. The Eagles took down Finlandia University 107-82 on Saturday night, while AU squandered a 20-point lead on Friday but escaped with a 69-66 win over the Lions. KSU Tusc also won on the road last week at Cincinnati Clermont 85-75, while Andrews was beaten 85-66 on their home floor by the Cougars.
The Eagles stayed true to the weekend script and staved off a game Cardinals team with a big close to the opening half and blistering shooting in the final 20 minutes to take home an 86-67 win and improve their record to 15-9 on the season.
In the first 10:02 of the game there were five lead changes and two ties before KSU Tusc wrestled control of the game away after trailing 18-14. It was Aaron Gergely who put the first log on the fire with a backdoor hoop and then a triple at the 9:58 mark to give the Eagles a 19-18 advantage. It was a lead they never relinquished.
Dejavu must have struck the Andrews coaches who watched the Eagles dismantle Finlandia University the night before on the strength of a hot hand from a player named Shockley. It was Kyle Shockley's 29 points that did most of the damage against the Lions, but this time it was older brother Kameron Shockley's turn. He backed up Gergely's long range missile with a pair of his own on back-to-back possessions to rocket the Eagles to a seven-point, 25-18 lead, as they fashioned an 11-0 run to erase a four-point deficit with 8:43 left.
When the Cardinal pecked their way back to within 27-23, the Eagles scraped out a 7-0 spurt to vault them to a 34-23 lead. The hosts had a feel-good moment when they managed to cut the lead to single digits (39-32) with :30 left in the half, but were denied when a step-back three-ball near the top of the key from Kameron Shockley found its mark with :02 left to give KSU Tusc a double digit 42-32 lead heading to the break. Shockley scored 14 points in the early stanza.
Despite two AU triples to begin the final half of play, the Eagles matched them basket for basket with three-balls of their own from Braden Rostad and Kameron Shockley to maintain a 10 point advantage at 50-40.
The last time Andrews got closer than double figures was 52-43, because Kameron Shockley soon victimized them again. A Shockley drive to the bucket for two, a deep trey from the left wing and lay in off an inbounds lob pass stretched the lead to 59-43.
KSU Tusc turned up the heat on both ends of the floor and didn't allow the Cardinals closer than 13 points (61-48) the rest of the way. Two DeJuan Lawrence baskets in the lane, two more Kameron Shockley three-point bombs combined with a triple from the top of the key by Kyle Shockley and a James Roundtree baseline 15 foot jumper off an inbounds pass with :03 left on the shot clock fueled the Eagles to their largest lead of the afternoon---22 points---at 76-54 with 5:58 left in the game.
A trio of seniors led the way for the Eagles, but Kameron Shockley took game scoring honors with 27 points. He sank 7/13 shots from behind the arc and grabbed six rebounds. London Cobbs scored 18 points on 8/13 shooting and DeJuan Lawrence recorded his tenth double-double on the year with 13 points and 11 boards---he was 5/10 from the floor. The trio combined to score 58 points on 22/41 shooting from the floor and 7/9 from the charity stripe.
On Saturday, February 18, the Golden Eagles now (15-9) host Ohio University Lancaster in a 2 pm tip.
London Cobbs tallied 18 points on 8/13 field goal shooting at Andrews University. (Photo by Rob Brindley)
DeJuan Lawrence had 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Cardinals.
(Photo by Lindsey Nicholson)