The Golden Eagles exercised the concept of duality---the conflict between the forces of good and evil---on Wednesday night losing onn the road at the University of Rio Grande 72-61.
After a wonderful first half of basketball that saw the navy and gold take an early 8-0 lead and finish the half on top 35-33, old Two Face reared his ugly head for nearly six minutes early in the final 20 minutes to squander KSU's chances of a road victory over a second NAIA River States Conference team this season.
Ethan Bower sank triples on back-to-back possessions to go along with a Kyle Shockley turnaround jumper in the lane to propel KSU Tusc to their early advantage. The RedStorm battled back to take a 15-13 lead on a three-ball of their own at the 12:28 mark and it was game on from that point---at least for the first 20 minutes.
Four ties and eight lead changes later, the contest was knotted up at 33-33 when the Eagles managed to get the upper hand with the last hoop of the stanza. Rio was held scoreless for the last 2:19 of the half, but the Eagles had to fight through a couple turnovers until Vinny Roper made things right on their final offensive set of the opening curtain. Roper drove left looking for an opening to the hoop but was cutoff. When the defender saw him turn away from the basket he relaxed and was victimized by a Roper quick spin move to the basket from the baseline for a lay in with :14.4 to go. The move proved to be the impetus to the halftime lead.
The Eagles had to fight off the turnover bug early in the last half, as they lost the handle three times in their first seven possessions while clinging to a 42-41 lead.
Then it was like the offense suffered the effects of the dark side on a bad flip of Two-Face's two-headed coin. Aside from a drive and two-handed dunk by Kyle Shockley at the 15:07 mark, the warning sirens blared in the navy and gold's ears at Newt Oliver Arena as they misfired five times, while Rio took off on a 20-2 run to take a 17-point, 61-44 lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
Finally, the Eagles pulled out of their steep nosedive and fashioned an 12-3 streak to trim the deficit to just eight points (64-56) with 5:38 left. Mekhi Johnson was responsible for six of those points that combined with a Reche' Dixon triple and a Kyle Shockley dunk after a steal to get the Eagles within striking distance.
After committing just five turnovers in the first half, the Eagles snuffed out their own flame near the end making five miscues in eight possessions between the 6:47 and 2:08 mark, as the RedStorm increased their advantage to 69-58.
KSU Tusc made a total of nine mishandles in the second half, but otherwise played Rio very close despite the errors. Each team had 14 turnovers, six steals and 26 points in the paint. The winners held a slight rebounding advantage (38-34), but in the end it was that fateful five minutes when the hosts sunk three of their 10 triples on the night that cost the Eagles the game. The Tusc made six shots from behind the arc---three in each half.
Kyle Shockley led the Golden Eagles with 19 points, Kameron Shockley scored 12 and Mekhi Johnson 10.
On Sunday at 1pm, KSU Tusc returns home to face Niagara County Community College (18-10).
Reche' Dixon advances the ball downcourt at Rio Grande after securing a rebound.
(Photo Courtesy of Rio Grande Athletics)