MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team returned from a two-week hiatus for the holidays by hosting Clark Atlanta University (CAU) in an interdivisional Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) contest on Saturday afternoon and suffered a 68-66 loss to the Panthers.
Leading 33-32 after the first 20 minutes of play, SHC bounded out to a 40-32 advantage over the first 2½ minutes of the 2
nd half and held a 45-36 cushion with 13:46 left to play. CAU responded with a 13-1 run over the next four minutes to wrest away a 49-46 lead with 9:51 remaining.
From there, the teams would answer each other bucket-for-bucket and free throw-for-free throw with CAU hold a 63-60 lead at the 1:53 mark. Austin Donaldson made it a four-point lead for CAU with a free throw at 40 seconds remaining, but
Brandon Fischer of SHC cut it to a 64-62 deficit for the Badgers with an inside layup at 34 seconds. CAU would struggle to a 66.7% (14-21) effort at the free throw line overall on the day, but the Panthers would make all four of their final attempts to ward off a final Badger push over the final 20 seconds to secure the 68-66 victory.
Junior forward Fischer led the Badgers with 12 points while
William Loyd and
Walter Massey each pitched in 11 points. SHC shot 46.8% (22-47) from the field and 38.9% (9-19) from 3-point range. The Badgers earned a 34-30 victory in the rebounding category, but suffered 13 turnovers versus seven steals by CAU and made just 57.7% (15-26) of their free throw attempts.
The East Division-leading Panthers (12-1, 6-0 SIAC East) were paced by Jalen Mitchell's 23 point performance off the bench followed by 15 points from Akil Douglas and 10 points from Donaldson. CAU shot 42.9% (24-56) overall and 26.1% (6-23) from 3-point distance while losing 10 turnovers to two Badger steals. Clark Atlanta outscored SHC 18-8 in points off turnovers and 6-0 in second chance points.
The Badgers (2-10, 0-4 SIAC West) next host the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers (10-0, 5-0 SIAC East) on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
