ATLANTA, Ga. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team fell to 0-2 in the early portion of their Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) schedule following a 98-88 loss to the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers on Monday night at Forbes Arena.
The Maroon Tigers (4-3, 2-0 SIAC East) opened the game on the run and quickly manufactured a 25-9 lead by the 12:34 mark of the first half. Despite suffering a short-handed roster due to illness, the Badgers began to answer the Morehouse onslaught with points on their own end, cutting the deficit at 46-35 with 5 minutes remaining in the period.
From inside layups, to mid-range jumpers and long 3-pointers, SHC used every trick in their bag to put together a late run and find themselves suddenly down just 51-44 with 2 minutes to go until halftime. Then a fast break layup with 25 seconds left by sophomore guard
Jordan McIlwain playing in front of his hometown crowd brought the Badgers to within 53-50 at the intermission.
Morehouse regrouped in the locker rooms, however, and went on a 10-0 run to open the second half to put SHC back in a 63-50 hole at 16:31. From there, the Tigers maintained a healthy 14- to 18-point cushion until the final minute when SHC sliced the lead to 9 at 97-88, but could draw no closer.
Four Badgers reached double-digits as McIlwain, senior guard
Gresyn Rogers of Casa Grande, Ariz., and senior forward
Chase Shellman of Louisville, Ky. each contributed 18 points and senior guard
Pat McNamara from Arlington Heights, Ill. added 13 points.
SHC shot a 55.7% (34-61) from the field and 38.1% (8-21) from 3-point range. The Badgers hurt themselves with 17 turnovers against 10 steals by the Tigers while edging out a 39-37 victory in rebounding. Spring Hill also made 85.7% (12-14) of their free throw attempts.
The Tigers had five double-digit scorers led by Malik Kennedy with 20 points as Morehouse shot 44.9% (35-78) from the floor and 51.6% (16-31) from 3-point distance while losing just 7 turnovers to 4 steals by the Badgers. The Tigers would put home just 57.1% (12-21) of their free throw opportunities.
The Badgers (1-7, 0-2 SIAC West) will visit the University of West Florida (UWF) Argonauts (1-5) in Pensacola on Saturday for a non-conference game beginning at 4 p.m. in the UWF Field House.
