Tyler Rogers
The Alice Lloyd Eagles defeated KIAC Conference foe Indiana University-Kokomo 62-58 in a hard fought battle held at the Grady Nutt Athletic Center on Saturday.
In the opening half, the game was close early as both clubs were looking to establish a rhythm. The score was knotted at 11 apiece with 12:36 on the clock before the IUK Cougars went on a 13-4 run. Sparked by 10 consecutive points from guard Trent Elliott, the Cougars took their largest lead of the night at 24-15 with 6:55 on the clock.
The Eagles then went on an 11-2 burst over the next 3 minutes to tie things at 26 apiece following a Cody Stumbo trifecta with 3:48 showing, and they took a 32-31 lead into the dressing room for intermission.
In the second half, the Eagles continued their run as they opened the first 4 minutes with a 9-2 jolt to lead 41-33.
IUK then proceeded to go on a 9-1 run of their own to knot the score at 43 with 12:14 remaining.
From this point the game remained tight as the teams traded jabs. IUK squeaked ahead 57-54 with 3:54 remaining after a Jerome Campbell bucket and appeared poised to snatch the victory.
However, on the next possession, Eagle guard Trevor Combs hit a big runner in the lane to slice the deficit to 1 at 57-56. After two consecutive defensive stops, Combs and Austin Crisp each sank 1-2 from the foul line to give ALC a 58-57 lead with 2:02 remaining.
Kokomo’s leading scorer Elliott was fouled with 1:48 remaining and sank 1-2 to tie things at 58.
With .37 left in regulation, Alice Lloyd freshman Shane Hall was fouled on a strong drive and sank 1-2 to give his club a 59-58 lead.
In desperate need of a big defensive play, the Eagle’s Hall delivered, as he first blocked a potential go-ahead bucket from Kokomo guard Nick Teeter with .20 showing and next picked the ball out of the air. He quickly fed Stumbo who was ran down and fouled with 14 seconds showing.
The Eagles leading free throw shooter proceeded to calmly swish both tries and put Alice Lloyd ahead by 3, at 61-58.
IUK missed on their next possession and Stumbo grabbed the rebound. He sank 1-2 of his tosses to ice the game in the win column for the home team.
For the victors (8-8; 4-2 KIAC), they were paced by their seniors. Tyler Rogers, who played a steady game, finished with 15 points on 7-10 shooting; he added 6 rebounds. Joining him in double figures was Stumbo with 12. Hall added 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 huge blocks.
Kokomo (4-13; 0-4 KIAC) was led by Elliott with 21.