Attack! The basket.
And, assault the basket is just what the Golden Eagles did in counteracting a hot three-point shooting Penn State Fayette team in a 97-87 road win on Friday night. The victory raised No. 4 KSU Tusc's record to 15-6 on the season.
The navy and gold pummeled the lane in outscoring the Nittany Lions 72-30 in the paint to overcome 12 three-point baskets---six in each half---by the hosts. KSU Tusc made only three triples in the game.
Kyle Shockley netted 32 of his game leading 40 points in the foul lane to captain the onslaught of the Lions interior defense. He scored on six consecutive possessions in the final 20 minutes of the game and netted 22 points on 11 of 14 KSU possessions over a 10-minute period, as the Eagles built a pair of 10-point leads to withstand a couple of late charges by the Lions.
The game saw 14 leads changes and four ties with the final deadlock coming at 69-69 with 9:53 to play when Shockley was fouled on a drive to the hoop. He converted the bucket and subsequent free throw for 70-69 lead that was the impetus to an 11-0 run by the Golden Eagles.
They really got rolling on a Kameron Shockley dunk off a full court outlet pass on a defensive rebound for a three-point lead. Vinny Roper added a layup before back-to-back dunks by Kyle Shockley off an offensive rebound feed from brother Kameron and a drive from the left wing spotted the winners to a 78-69 advantage.
After the final successful Lions triple of the game with 7:42 to play, Kyle Shockley knocked down a pair of free throws and got baskets on a baseline drive and back door cut to fashion an 84-74 lead at the 6:19 mark.
PSF managed to cut the lead to five points twice down the stretch, but the Eagles did enough to win despite making just 4/8 free throws in the last 2:31. A final exclamation point came from a steal on a Lions inbounds pass under the KSU Tusc basket by Kameron Shockley with :32 seconds left.
He fed the ball to Kyle who laid the ball off the glass for an ending that was truly poetic in a heroic performance.
In the opening half of the game, the Lions held several six-point leads that the Eagles effectively collapsed with timely baskets. The last was a 47-41 lead with 2:08 left in the half before the Eagles scored the final nine points for a 50-47 lead at the break.
They did it on the strength of a Javier Ward three-ball, two Kyle Shockley layups after steals and a Shockley assist to Mekhi Johnson with two seconds before the halftime buzzer.
Besides Kyle Shockley's career high 40 point-game on 16/21 shooting, Kameron Shockley had an incredible double-double adding 17 points and 19 rebounds, while James Roundtree scored 10.
On Wednesday, January 31st the Golden Eagles travel to Owens Community College for a 6pm tip.
Kameron Shockley (left) had 17 points & 19 rebounds at PSF, while Kyle scored a KSU Tusc career high 40 points.
(Photos by Lindsey Nicholson)