Shane Hall
The Alice Lloyd Eagles battled back valiantly from a 17 point deficit with just 11:40 remaining before falling to the home-standing Cincinnati Christian University Eagles 66-63 last night.
In the opening half, the hosts doubled up the boys from the mountains 20-10 over the first 8:00 of the game. ALC reduced the score to 30-24 at the 1:43 mark following a nifty move from Shane Hall, but CCU scored the last four points of the half to take a 34-24 lead at intermission.
In the second half, nothing started out well for Alice Lloyd. Over the first 8:20, sparked by sub Blake Walsman, the conference leading hosts went on a 19-12 run to push ahead 53-36.
In desperate need of some inspired play, the Eagles stepped up and tightened their defense. They then proceeded to go on a 16-4 run of their own sparked by the play of Hall and fellow freshman Braxton Blair. When Hall sank a bucket with 2:44 remaining, the score stood 57-52.
Cincinnati sank 3 free throws to run the lead to 60-52 only to watch Alice Lloyd reel off a 11-4 flurry to trail by just 1 (64-63) with 29 ticks remaining.
When the hosts missed two free throws at .16, the visiting Eagles incredibly had the ball with a chance to go ahead.
Unfortunately on the possession, Alice Lloyd lost the ball and eventually fouled Walsman at .06. His two clutch shots set the score 66-63.
The guests got a contested three at the buzzer, but it came up just short.
For ALC (7-8; 3-2 KIAC) they were led by Hall who played a solid game with 16 points and 12 rebounds. He connected on 7-9 field goals and added 2 blocks and a steal. He was followed by Tyler Rogers who scored 14 points on 6-12 field goals despite being injured. He added 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Blair came off the bench to score 11 points, 9 in the final half. Austin Crisp dished off a game high 5 assists.
CCU (10-3; 3-0 KIAC) was led by Walsman with 17.