MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team fell behind by as much as 19 points with less than 9 minutes to play, but rallied to steal an 86-84 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) home victory away from the Kentucky State University (KSU) Thorobreds on Saturday afternoon at Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
The Thorobreds (8-11, 5-7 SIAC West) led the Badgers 76-57 with 8:43 remaining in the game, but the Badgers refused to die and battled back to make it an 82-78 contest with two minutes to play.
Senior forward
Chase Shellman of Louisville, Ky. completed a hoop-and-the-harm 3-point play to bring the Badgers within 1 and then junior guard
Ron Rice of Harlem, N.Y. dropped in a 3-pointer from the top of the key and suddenly SHC was in front 84-82 with 35 seconds left.
KSU Shaq Athie put in two free throws with 15 seconds showing to tie the game and Rice's jumper at four seconds left was ruled off a KSU player and back in SHC possession. Sophomore guard
Christian Brandt's in-bounds pass found senior guard
Gresyn Rogers of Casa Grande, Ariz. on the right side for a turnaround jumper that rattled home with 1.5 seconds on the clock. A final long 3-pointer by KSU failed to get off before the buzzer and nevertheless fell short as pandemonium reigned in the stands.
Shellman scored 21 points and Rogers tallied 18 while Brandt and Rice both added 13 points. Senior guard
Dwight Harris contributed 12 points to the Badger totals while sophomore forward
Brent Smith came away with five steals.
As a team, SHC shot an even 50% (32-64) from the field and 50% (9-18) from 3-point range. The Badgers lost 16 turnovers against 6 steals by the Thorobreds and made 72.2% (13-18) of their free throw attempts.
Jordan Little paced KSU with 21 points as four Thorobreds reached double digits in scoring. KSU shot 54.5% (30-55) overall and made 50% (12-24) of their shots from beyond the arc. The Thorobreds committed 25 turnovers against a season-high 15 steals by the Badgers. KSU sank 80% (12-15) of their free throw opportunities and edged the Badgers 32-30 in rebounding.
The Badgers (6-15, 5-7 SIAC West) will host the Central State University (CSU) Marauders (9-8, 6-5 SIAC West) at 7:30 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on Monday.
