BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - An offensive drought in the first half seemingly doomed Spring Hill College against LeMoyne-Owen College Tuesday afternoon, but the Magicians then had to hold off a furious second-half rally to earn a 93-87 victory over the Badgers in the first round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at the Bill Harris Arena.
With the win, LeMoyne-Owen completed a three-game sweep of Spring Hill this season and moves into Thursday's 7:45 p.m. quarterfinal against either Central State (6-22) or Clark Atlanta (13-11), which played later Tuesday in another opening round game.
Christian Brandt made a 3-pointer 2:24 into the game to give the Badgers a 7-4 lead, but the Magicians (19-9) scored the next 10 straight points and went on a 22-2 run over a span of to open up a 26-9 advantage after a Tyrone Banks basket with 8:40 to go before halftime. Spring Hill (8-20) ended up going 4:47 without a field goal before
Jared Holland's layup got the Badgers back to within 28-13 with 7:53 remaining in the first half.
LeMoyne-Owen - which has won four of the last five meetings with the Badgers - led by as many as 24 points in the opening half, that coming at 52-28 following a pair of Tyrone Banks free throws with 16 seconds remaining. The Magicians led 52-30 at halftime, going 17-for-37 from the field (45.9 percent), but more importantly the Magicians were 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) from three-point range and also drained 11 of their 12 free throws (91.7 percent).
LeMoyne-Owen also forced Spring Hill into nine turnovers that led to 16 Magician points. Devin Booker led LeMoyne-Owen - which has now won three straight games - with 19 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting, including 5-for-6 from behind the three-point line. Banks pitched in 14 points and three rebounds of his own.
Meanwhile, Spring Hill was just 8-for-24 (33.3 percent) from the field, including 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) from long range.
David Daniels and Fischer had nine points apiece in the first half to lead the Badgers.
Spring Hill scored the first four points of the second half to move to within 18 at 50-32 after a
Quinn Sutton layup with 19:02 to go, but an 8-2 burst by LeMoyne-Owen pushed the margin back over 20 points and led 71-44 with 11:45 remaining after a free throw by Martez Briggs.
However, the Badgers didn't go quietly, ripping off a 26-8 run to close to within nine points at 79-70 following a
Justin Allison basket with 5:30 to go. The Badgers had two shots to get the margin under nine, but missed both, and later were only down 82-73 after another Allison trey with 3:45 still left.
Sutton banged home a three-pointer of his own to get the Badgers within 85-78 with 1:19 remaining before four straight free throws on back-to-back possessions got the Magicians' lead back out to 89-78. However, Sutton nailed another 3-pointer to get Spring Hill to 89-81 with 46 seconds left.
Two free throws by Booker were followed by another three-pointer, this one from Brandt - to keep Spring Hill within 91-84 with 17 seconds to go. The Badgers got a turnover, but missed another three-pointer and LeMoyne-Owen got the rebound, allowing the Magicians to hold on for the win.
Fischer led Spring Hill with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Allison finished with 17 points, six assists and four rebounds, Brandt added 15 and five rebounds, Daniels pitched in 14 and four rebounds, Sutton chipped in 11 and Holland filled the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Badgers - who had six double digits scorers in the loss - were 21-for-38 (55.3 percent) from the field in the second half, including a sizzling 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) on 3-pointers. Spring Hill did limit itself to just six turnovers in the second half, but only made three of its nine free throws (33.3 percent) in the final 20 minutes.
Booker finished with a game-high 26 points, seven rebounds and three steals to pace the Magicians. Mason had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Banks also finished with 17 points. Jerry Hurt also reached double digits for LeMoyne-Owen, tossing in 10 in the win.
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