The Golden Eagles raised their overall record to 12-4 with a Shockley-ing win over the Community College of Beaver County on Wednesday, but there was even more reason to celebrate after the game when the national rankings were released.
The now No. 3 team in USCAA DII raised their standing with a huge win over the weekend against the previous No. 3 ranked Miami Hamilton. It's the Eagles highest ranking through five years of membership in the small college association.
On this night however, the Titans were well-aware of KSU Tusc's recent rise to relevance and sought to put a smudge on the Eagles huge weekend victory. They fought into the final minutes of the game and even overcame a 20-point deficit, but in the end the Eagles prevailed 96-85.
It was a Shockley-ing end for the Eagles, as brothers, Kyle and Kameron Shockley, tallied 14 of the team's last 23 points and combined for 51 points on the night. Freshman sensation Kyle led all scorers with a new collegiate career high of 29 points, while Kameron poured in 22 points dialing long distance four times.
After the Golden Eagles opened up a 69-49 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the contest, the Titans made a 13-4 run to shorten the advantage to 73-62. That's when Kyle and Kameron went to work.
Kyle was fouled on a missed three-point shot, and sank a pair of free chances, he also made floater in the lane for another basket. Kameron added a pair of free throws and then found Kyle streaking to the hoop against full court pressure and rifled a perfect Tom Brady-like pass to him for another basket. It happened again seconds later, but this time Kyle ended the play with a dunk to the delight of the crowed and spawned an 88-74 Eagles lead with 4:28 to play.
Two more Kyle free throws paired with two Braden Rostad long range bombs completed the scoring and preserved the win.
KSU Tusc led 47-37 at the half over the much bigger Titans and even though the game never got closer than eight points the rest of the way, the game seemed on the verge of turning at any moment. Key buckets and free throw shooting allowed the Eagles keep CCBC at bay and collect postgame kudos from Titan boss Tyler Care.
Joining the Shockleys in double figures were Rostad with 11 and DeJuan Lawrence with 10 points as the Eagles shot 38% from the floor and 38% from distance converting on 11/29 three-ball attempts. There were 56 fouls call in the game and the winners made just 19/32 tries (59%), while CCBC faired much better sinking 24/30 for 80%. The Eagles did score 18 second chance points while limiting the Titans to just nine and also outpaced the visitors on the boards 52-30.
On Saturday, the Eagles, winners of five straight games, travel to Lorain Community College for a 3:00 p.m. game. The Eagles lost a 20 point lead over the Commodores on December 29th and will look to avenge that loss.
They return home on February 6th when they host Miami Middletown.
DeJuan Lawrence flips a shot over CCBC defenders for a basket.
London Cobbs handles the rock in traffic.
London Cobbs helps Kameron Shockley up after a foul and Kameron lines up one of his four triples. Photos by Jason Keller