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Chillicothe, OH: The Alice Lloyd College Eagles displayed a total team effort on the defensive side and saw two players achieve double-doubles on the offensive side, to upend the homestanding Ohio Christian University Trailblazers, 78-66. The River States Conference contest took place on Tuesday, January 7th.

In the opening half, the visitors jumped out to a great start. Five different players would dent the scoreboard in the opening 7:02 as ALC jumped out to a 20-9 lead. However, over the next seven minutes, OCU would go on a 19-7 run, and they would take their first lead of the night (28-27) with 5:26 remaining. Fortunately, Alice Lloyd would respond and regain the lead. The Eagles went into intermission nursing a 37-34 advantage.

In the second half, the two squads would trade buckets as neither refused to roll over. As the clock hit the 5:00 mark, the Trailblazers led 62-61, much to the delight of the home crowd. At this crucial juncture, the Eagles came through in a huge way. First, they would execute to perfection on offense. Senior guard Blake Smith led the way with seven points as he sank three big shots. Next, on the defensive end, the men from Caney Creek would slam the door shut by limiting the host club to contested shots each time they tried to respond and then grab the errant shots. Alice Lloyd would close the contest on a 16-5 run to win going away.

For ALC (8-8; 2-2 RSC), they were led by Smith who had a monster game with 34 points and 10 rebounds.  He finished 15-23 from the floor. Sophomore forward Will Philpot flexed his muscles by scoring 13 points and ripping down 17 huge rebounds. Junior guard Noah Young was steady as well, as he contributed 13 points and handed off 6 assists. Senior guard Ian Lee led the club with 2 steals while sophomore forward Idris Akinyemi swatted 2 shots.

The victorious club connected on 44.9% (31-69) from the field, including 42.9% (6-14) from long range. They hit 60% (12-20) from the foul line and added 48 rebounds, 16 assists, and 5 steals.

OCU (4-12; 1-3 RSC) who has played a challenging schedule as well, was led by Justin Barksdale with 17 points. His club connected on 33.3% (24-72) from the field, including just 19.4% (6-31) from long range. They hit 60% (12-20) from the foul line and added 39 rebounds, 12 assists, and 7 steals.

ALC returns to action in a Men’s and Women’s doubleheader on Saturday, January 11th when they travel to Richmond, Indiana to face Indiana University-East in an important conference match at 3:00 pm. They finally return home on Tuesday, January 14th when they host Midway University at 7:30 pm.