An 11-0 scoring stretch to start the second half put lots of air under the Eagles wings as they soared to an 89-57 win at Andrews University Friday afternoon.
After leading 43-37 at the intermission, KSU Tusc opened up a 17-point, 54-37 lead by holding the host Cardinals scoreless over the first six and one-half minutes of the final half to break the game wide open.
The Golden Eagles clung to the meager halftime lead after building 32-19 advantage before they got too comfortable and allowed AU to cut the deficit to 34-32. The Cardinals outscored the Eagles 13-2 over a five-minute stretch, but Kyle Shockley attacked the basket on two straight possessions and converted three-point plays the old-fashioned way followed by a Reche' Dixon three gave them a 43-32 cushion at the 2:02 mark.
Andrews tallied a basket with :33 left and then converted a navy and gold turnover into a last second three-point basket---their seventh of the first half---to trim the lead to six going into the locker room with momentum on their side as the Eagles were parlaying for the last shot of the opening stanza.
The second half opening salvo was fired by the Shockley brothers who switched sides on offense with Kyle dribbling left and Kameron going right. The latter made a hard cut to the basket and caught an alley oop from younger brother for a dunk as they Eagles stole "uncle mo" back.
Not finished, they added nine more tallies on three drives to the basket by Kyle Shockley and a triple by Braden Rostad to force a Cardinals timeout with 14:59 left to play. The scoreboard tilted in KSU Tusc's favor 54-37 before AU was afforded their first bucket of the second half.
Eleven minutes deep into the final half, the Eagles had outpaced the Cardinals 25-8 to establish a 68-45 lead. All told, the winners stymied AU's offense and limited them to just 20 second half points while exploding for 46 themselves.
With 8:15 left in the contest, Coach Tharp opted for wholesale substitutions after an Ethan Bower trey made the score 71-47. Not to be outdone, the bench added to the lead which reached 87-55 (32 points) on a pair of Juwan Coates long range bombs--- the last with 1:39 left in the game---and another by James Roundtree.
The victory upped the Golden Eagles record to 17-8 breaking a two-game skid and sending the Cardinals to their 11th straight loss and a record of 1-17.
Kyle Shockley led 12 Golden Eagles who scored by tossing in 23 points on 9/15 shooting, was a perfect 5/5 at the charity stripe, had six steals and three assists. Bower and Mekhi Johnson each scored 12 points, with Johnson snaring five boards and converting on 5/7 action shots. The Eagles shot 48% from the floor and collected 44 rebounds.
Up next for the Golden Eagles is a game with Penn Highlands on Wednesday, Feb. 14th at 6pm in Founders Hall Gym.
Kameron Shockley scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists versus the Cardinals.
Ethan Bower made four triples for 12 points and Mekhi Johnson converted on 5/7 field goals and also tallied 12 points at Andrews.
Reche' Dixon scored eight points and was 2/2 from the arc.
(Photos by Lindsey Nicholson)