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ALC sophomore guard Noah Young

Noah Young

Pippa Passes, KY: The Alice Lloyd College Eagles, under the guidance of veteran coach JR Hammond, had to battle for forty minutes but were rewarded with a nice 76-74 victory over the visiting University of Rio Grande Red Storm. The big River States Conference contest was held on January 19th.

In the opening half, ALC raced out to a quick 9-0 run only to watch Rio return the favor and knot the score at 9-9 exactly five minutes in.

The Eagles answered with a 15-7 burst to pull ahead 24-16 with 8:12 showing. Despite the fact that the hosts leading scorer Blake Smith missed over half the segment with foul trouble, Alice Lloyd held on and would take a 33-24 advantage into intermission.

In the second half, the Eagles would be forced to watch Smith pick up his fourth foul just one minute in. After his early exit, they then witnessed the Red Storm roll off a 10-2 streak. Suddenly, the lead was just one point (35-34) with 16:57 to play.

Fortunately, the home club would find an answer.

Over the next five minutes, five different Eagles would find the bottom of the net as they methodically pulled out a 20-11 streak of their own. As the clock ticked below the ten-minute mark, the score stood 55-45.

The squads continued to claw and scrap as they would trade buckets. When ALC sophomore guard Noah Young sank a floater in the lane with just 1:37 remaining, the lead stood at ten (74-64), and the home fans began to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, the visitors refused to go away. Buoyed by a late run, Rio would cause the crowd a few anxious moments as they whittled the score down. Their final bucket came with just three-tenths of a second to go, and Alice Lloyd hung on for the victory.

For the winning squad (8-12; 3-7 RSC) four players reached double figures. They were led on the night by Young with 18 points and junior forward Chance Cornett with 14.

Senior forward Simon Christon stepped up big with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 4 steals while classmate Ryan House added 11 points. The guard also recorded 3 assists on the night.

ALC shot 43.8% (28-64) from the field and 30% (6-20) from long range. They sank 82.4% (14-17) from the foul line while adding 32 rebounds, 8 assists, and 9 steals.

For Rio (8-14; 2-7 RSC), Gunner Short pumped in 19 points.

His club finished shooting 50% (26-52) from the floor and 35.7% (5-14) from behind the arc. They sank 68% (17-25) from the foul line and also added 38 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals.

ALC returns to action this week for three road games, including two huge conference matchups. On Tuesday, January 22nd, they face Kentucky Christian University at 7:30. They will follow that with a road trip to Pittsburgh (PA) for two critical conference tilts. On Friday, January 25th, they have an 8:00 pm matchup against Carlow University.  Finally, they close out the week on Saturday, January 26th when they face Point Park University at 3:00 pm.