Winning in tournament play gets you farther down the tournament trail, and the reward is always a huge step up in competition. Just ask the USCAA DII, No. 1 ranked and No. 1 tournament seed Penn State Mont Alto.
Through 23 wins this season, the Nittany Lions won by an average margin of 15 points per game, but on Tuesday afternoon, they were thoroughly tested by Kent State Tuscarawas in a quarterfinal game at the USCAA National Championships in Virginia.
The No. 9 ranked and No. 9 seed Golden Eagles were in hot pursuit of second tournament win after lambasting Southwestern Adventist in a first round game, but they came up just short losing 61-56 to Mont Alto as they pushed the Lions to the limit in a game that wasn't decided until the final :26.7 seconds.
The Eagles held the Nittanys to 16 points below their season average, made two more field goals, had fewer turnovers (19-22), made two more steals and blocked more shots than PSUMA, but were outscored at the charity stripe by 10 points---the deciding factor in the game. Mont Alto made good on 16/22 freebies for 73%, while the Eagles went to the stripe 11 less times and made 6/11 for the game (55%).
In the final :48 seconds of the game, the Golden Eagles were whistled for four fouls and the Lions made 6/8 of their chances to seal the game.
Kent State Tuscarawas failed to score their first basket of the game until the 15:48 mark and trailed 7-0 when JaJuantae Young made a driving layup. Braden Rostad hit a triple about a minute later to draw the Eagles to within 7-5. The game parlayed back and forth until London Cobbs dished the ball to Kameron Shockley for a resounding dunk and their first lead of the game at 17-16.
The Lions took the lead back with two free throws and a subsequent jumper with six minutes to play in the opening half (20-17). Then the Eagles broke loose with a 15-4 run to end the half, punctuated by a Kyle Shockley dunk with :01.2 seconds left and took a 32-24 lead into halftime.
Déjà vu struck in opening 2:35 of the final half, when Mont Alto scored nine straight points to take a 33-32 lead. Kameron Shockley answered with six consecutive points for the Eagles powering them to a 38-33 advantage with 16:07 left in the game.
Baskets by DeJuan Lawrence and Cobbs staked the Eagles to a 43-36 lead with 12:52 left to play.
PSUMA responded with a 12-0 spurt over the next five minutes to swipe a 48-43 lead as they threatened to dominate the final minutes of the game. Kameron Shockley however, drained a triple from the left elbow to draw the Eagles to within 48-46 with 7:40 left.
Back-to-back buckets, one of them a three-pointer off an inbounds play gave Mont Alto a 53-46 lead. It was the Lions last field goal of the game and Kameron Shockley staved off their momentum with a basket and free throw to cut the lead to four (53-49) with just under five minutes remaining.
The Lions would score their last eight points at the free throw line, but the Eagles kept hanging around as Rostad hit consecutive three-balls to tie the game at 55-55 with 1:34 left in the Eagles championship bracket life.
From there it was a free throw shooting contest as the Lions made 6/8 attempts compared to 1/2 for the Eagles, outscoring the KSU Tusc by five points for winning margin.
Kameron Shockley was the lone player in double figures for the 19-9 Golden Eagles. He stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Lawrence was the leading rebounder with 14 boards.
On Wednesday, the Eagles face No. 2 ranked and No. 2 overall seed Penn State Wilkes-Barre (22-6) in a consolation bracket game at 1:00 p.m. at Richard Bland College.
Braden Rostad splits the Mont Alto defense and manages to get off a shot attempt.
Kameron Shockley and James Roundtree pressure PSUMA into a turnover.
Jordan Stevens is knocked off his dribble and Coach Tharp listens to his players in the huddle during a timeout.
DeJuan Lawrence clears one of his 14 rebounds. Photos by Rob Brindley