Winona Lake: The Alice Lloyd College Eagles concluded the 2021-22 season in the consolation round of the NCCAA DI Basketball Tournament against the hot-shooting Asbury University Eagles. The Pippa Passes boys dug a huge hole for themselves in the first half, then mounted an incredible comeback in the final ten minutes, before falling in the final seconds, 86-82. The contest was played on March 18th in Winona Lake, Indiana.
In the first half, the Central Kentucky squad came out on fire while ALC could not get anything to drop. AU would sink 11-19 bombs to completely dominate the stanza while Alice Lloyd shot just 1-10 from the same distance. When the horn sounded for intermission, Asbury led by a staggering 48-25 margin.
In the second half, the Caney Creek boys saw sophomore forward Ben Soumahoro score the club’s first 12 points to help cut the deficit to 16 (53-37). Unfortunately, AU would score 9 points to leap ahead 62-37 with 14:27 remaining, and the game appeared to be heading in the direction of a 40-point romp.
From that point, ALC determined they would not go down quietly, and they turned to guard Noah Young. The senior went absolutely berserk with the ball, and he began to attack the rim and score at will to change the momentum. On defense, the club tightened up and began to limit the easy buckets while junior forward Will Philpot controlled the glass. Slowly, the ALC Eagles began to claw their way back.
Later, Young would swish three consecutive long trifectas as his club would dig deep and get within single digits (78-70). With the crowd stunned by the turnaround of events, Alice Lloyd crept closer. Finally, when Young drilled another huge bomb at .27, the deficit was reduced to just two (84-82). On the next possession, Alice Lloyd was unable to gain a steal and was forced to foul. Unfortunately, the purple Eagles would drain both tosses to finally end the scoring on a wild and wooly affair.
For the Eagles who finished the season at 27-7, Young ended his impressive career by leading all scorers with 26 points. Incredibly, he scored all of those points in the second half. On the day, he drained 9-17 field goals (4-7 3FG) and dished off 3 assists. Soumahoro was right behind with 22 points, 16 coming in the big second half. He sank 9-13 shots and grabbed 6 boards. Philpot registered his 15th double-double of the season as he registered 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Noah Caudill gave a nice lift off the bench as he contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds.
After shooting just 34% in the first half, Alice Lloyd shot 63.6 % in the second half to finish shooting 49.2% (32-65) for the game. Additionally, they shot 27.3 % (6-22) from behind the arc and 80% (12-15) from the foul line. The Eagles also garnered 42 rebounds, while adding 7 assists, and 1 steal.
AU (16-12) was led by Nick Fort with 24 points and Eric Powell with 20 points. The two combined to sink 9-16 long bombs. Their squad shot 46% (29-63) from the floor and won the contest by banging 15-33 trifectas (45.5%). They finished % (10-13) from the foul line, and also had 33 rebounds, 13 assists, and 8 steals.
With the season now concluded, the Eagles reached several milestones. They tied the record for wins in a season with 27. Also, this is the first time since 1996 year (26 years) that the club has reached 20 wins. They also set a school record for consecutive wins in a season with 19.
Young, big man Idris Akinyemi, and hard-working Cory Mason will graduate, but the rest of the squad returns and looks to go even further in 2023.