With the holidays coming, the Golden Eagles unwrapped an early Christmas present by upending NCAA DII Central State 87-85 in Wilberforce, OH, on Saturday. Try as they may to get more than a seven-point separation in Beacom Lewis Gym, the navy and gold kept pace with hot hands from the three-poinrt arc, but nearly gave the game away as they struggled at the free throw line down the stretch.
Leading 45-44 at the intermission and after sinking seven very timely treys in the first 20 minutes, the free throw line was KSU Tusc's friend to start the final half of play. Kyle Shockley converted on four straight charity tosses to lift the Eagles to a 49-44 advantage, while a Kameron Shockley drive to the basket, a Braden Rostad triple and a jumper by Ethan Bower propelled the lead to 56-48.
Every time the Marauders threatened to take charge the Eagles had a response.
A Rostad three-ball hit its mark to give Tusc a little breathing room at 64-58 and a pair of Javier Ward free throws made it 68-62. The Eagles grabbed a seven-point lead after Rostad made a driving layup and drained another three after a kick-out pass by Kameron Shockley. But that's when the jolly old Eagles tried to play Santa.
With the clock reading 7:52 and leading 73-68, the Eagles missed the front ends of two bonus situations---essentially surrendering what could have been a nine-point advantage. After a KSU Tusc turnover via an offensive foul, Central State sank a wide open three after fighting for and securing three consecutive offensive rebounds on one possession.
The Eagles managed a free throw and a Vinny Roper running hook shot, but misfired on a pair of free throws as CSU narrowed the gap to 76-75. KSU Tusc fumbled a defensive rebound out of bounds under the hosts basket which led to the scoring opportunity.
Roper snagged an offensive rebound and made a reverse lay in for a 78-75 lead. There was 3:41 left when Kyle Shockley sank three charity tosses after being fouled on a three-point attempt for a short-lived 81-77 lead. Moments later Shockley canned a jumper from the elbow to raise the score to 83-79.
Then a Marauder player charged past KSU Tusc defenders along the left baseline for an emphatic one-handed slam to close the gap to 84-83 with just two minutes remaining. Still in a giving mood, the Eagles made just two front ends of a pair of two-shot bonuses as they clung to a precarious 85-83 margin with 1:36 left to play.
The Marauders missed a shot on the ensuing possession and this time the Eagles made them pay for the misdirection. Kyle Shockley ran some time off the clock searching for a lane to the hoop and drew defenders. He fired a skip pass to a wide open Rostad who snuck behind the CSU front line for a lay to provide what would be the winning margin.
CSU had one final opportunity after cutting the deficit to 87-85. They pushed the ball up court and forced a triple try from the left corner as three Golden Eagles shadowed the shooter. The ball bounced high off the rim as the final buzzer sounded preserving a KSU Tusc 87-85 victory, their second straight win over the Marauders in as many seasons.
On the afternoon the Golden Eagles struggled from the free throw line making just 15/29 chances, while shooting just 50% (12/24) in the second half alone. On the other hand, Central State stayed in the game by converting on 21-24 opportunities. KSU Tusc was ablaze from the three-point arc where they made 12/23 action shots (52%).
Kyle Shockey led five Golden Eagles in double digits with 18 points, Rostad had 16, Ward and Kameron Shockley both scored 11 and Vinny Roper 10.
On Friday, December 15th the Eagles (7-3) travel to Columbus, OH, to face Ohio Dominican---another NCAA DII foe---in a 6 pm start.
Vinny Roper dropped in 10 points at Central State, while Javier Ward knocked down three triples and scored 11.
Kameron Shockley scored 11 against the Marauders.
(Photos by Lindsey Nicholson)