MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team earned an 82-78 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) victory over the Fort Valley State University (FVSU) Wildcats on Wednesday night at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center, snapping a 5-game losing skid.
The Wildcats (3-15, 1-8 SIAC East) clung to a slim 41-40 lead at halftime, but quickly built out an 11-point 58-47 cushion with 15:46 left to play.
Then Spring Hill began to whittle away at the deficit. Senior guard
Gresyn Rogers of Casa Grande found a 3-pointer from the right side, senior guard
Dwight Harris from Americus, Ga., dropped in a jumper from the paint, senior forward
Chase Shellman slammed home dunk off a fast break opportunity and the Badgers found themselves down by just 62-58 with 12 minutes on the clock.
SHC would slice the FVSU lead down to one point on three occasions over the next eight minutes, but it was not until Shellman got free underneath for a layup that the Badgers knotted the score at 75-75 with 4:10 showing. Two minutes later, Harris sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a 3-pointer from the left side to put SHC up 78-75 for their first lead of the second half.
Two free throws by junior guard
Ron Rice of Harlem, N.Y., made it 80-75 with 40 seconds remaining, but Tristan Davis of the Wildcats converted a hoop-and-the-harm 3-point play on the other end of the court to put the score at 80-78 with 31 seconds left. With 10 seconds remaining, Harris found himself trapped on the sideline off the in-bounds play in front of the FVSU bench and was whistled for a turnover despite frantically calling for a timeout.
Zachary Boggs of FVSU was long on the 3-point attempt, but his teammate K'viontae Williams came down with the rebound and looked to have an easy game-tying layup when Rice came through with an authoritative game-saving block on the baseline. Harris would secure the rebound and convert two final free throws to seal the win with 2 seconds on the clock as a final full-court heave by the Wildcats fell short.
Shellman recorded his 10
th double/double of the year, scoring a game-high 20 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. Rice came off the bench to add 18 points while Harris along with Rogers both added 16 points to the Badger coffers.
As a team, SHC shot 52.4% (33-63) from the field and 38.9% (7-18) from 3-point range. The Badgers lost 10 turnovers against five steals by the Wildcats and made 75% (9-12) of their free throw attempts.
Shawn Foxbrennaen paced FVSU with 18 points as five Wildcats reached double digits in scoring. FVSU shot 51.7% (31-60) overall and made 43.8% (7-16) of their shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats committed 12 turnovers against a single steal by the Badgers and sank 64.3% (9-14) of their free throw opportunities. FVSU edged the Badgers 32-31 in rebounding, but the Badgers managed to outscore the Wildcats 22-10 in second-chance points.
The Badgers (4-15, 3-7 SIAC West) will take to the road again on Monday when they travel to Jackson, Tenn. to face the Lane College Dragons (7-10, 3-6 SIAC West) at 7:30 p.m. in J.F. Lane Gymnasium.
