The Golden Eagles Basketball Team learned a valuable lesson on Wednesday night in their season open to prevail over visiting Penn State Shenango 77-74.
Coach Tharp's "Team Number Eight", as he calls them, had to realize that they cannot rest on "Team Number Seven's" Final Four laurels from a year ago.
"Team Number Eight" found themselves down 10-4 before they got things in gear scoring seven straight points to grab a short lived 11-10 lead. That's when they turned up the pressure, holding the Lions scoreless for nearly six minutes as they vaulted to a 19-12 advantage. The Founders Hall faithful roared after a couple of highlight dunks and a Charles Echols steal that led to a lofted pass to Vinny Roper who cut straight down the middle of the lane for a floater and a 29-16 Eagles lead.
A pair of charity tosses by Ed Daniels and an Echols basket from the left elbow sent the navy and gold into the locker room with a seemingly comfortable 35-23 lead.
In the final half, an Eagles 12-point lead was on the verge of disappearing but they managed to do enough to maintain what became just a four-point 49-45 lead. A layup by Roper, a deep trey by Echols and a Kameron Shockley layup however, built the lead to 62-49 with 7:345 left in the game and gave them a little sigh of relief.
Still the Lions showed a lot of pride answering the bell as they outscored the Eagles 6-2 with 4:38 left to cut the deficit to 72-68. Kyle Shockley brought KSU Tusc out of their doldrums with four straight points and gave the Eagles a little more breathing room 75-68 with :35 ticks left to play.
Basket interference on the Eagles made it 75-70 and after a KSU Tusc missed opportunity on the front end of a one and one situation, Shenango got another basket at the :13 mark to draw to 75-72. Echols iced the game with two free throws with :12 left after being fouled on the inboudns pass and the Lions added a late score before falling 77-74.
Kyle Shockley led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points and was joined in double figures by brother Kam and Echols who tossed in 14 points apiece. Echols was a difference maker in the second half when he scored 12 points.
The Golden Eagles travel to Clark State on Thursday, November 9 for a 7:15 pm tip.
Kameron Shockley is fouled going to the basket and Kyle Shockley pulls off one of his patented off-balance shots for a bucket.
Charles Echols calms himself before icing the game with two free throws.
(Photos by Lindsey Nicholson)