COLUMBIA, S.C. (November 29, 2021) – Despite a spirited comeback attempt in the 2
nd half, the Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team opened the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) portion of their schedule with an 87-80 road loss to the Benedict College (BC) Tigers on Monday night at HRC Arena.
The Tigers (3-3, 2-0 SIAC East) implemented a frantic pace to open the game resulting in an early 15-9 BC lead and a 24-17 edge at the 10:30 mark of the 1
st half. The Tigers continued to hold a 7-point advantage 44-37 heading into the halftime locker rooms.
SHC opened the 2
nd half with an 11-5 run to slice the deficit down to 49-48 with 16:30 left on the clock. The teams traded each other two 3-pointers each to make it a 55-54 Tiger lead at 15:09.
Two free throws by
Beril Kabamba put the Badgers on top for the first time in the 2
nd half at 58-57 at 13:21. A layup from Kabamba at 11:59 kept SHC on top 60-59, but a Benedict free throw and a layup by Tajh Green gave the advantage back to the Tigers 62-60 with 10 minutes remaining.
Sam Davidson of the Badgers tied the game 65-65 with a 3-point bucket from the left side with 8:50 on the scoreboard, but BC used a 4-0 run out of the 7:38 media timeout to take a 71-67 edge.
SHC freshman
Tana Kopa cut the lead to 71-69 with a layup at 5:38 remaining. Benedict put in a free throw on the other end and
David Daniels slid in a layup for the Badgers to make it a 72-71 BC lead at 4:53.
With 2:33 left, Benedict led 77-71, but a Kambama 2-pointer was answered by a BC trey at 2:10 only to have SHC respond with a 3-pointer by
Jaden Gray at 1:51 putting the score at 80-76 in favor of the Tigers with events heading to the home stretch.
Benedict's Malachi McCoy came up with a crucial put-back basket off a teammate's missed jumper to stake the Tigers to an 82-76 bulge with just 56 seconds left. Two SHC free throws and a single made free throw by BC made it 83-78 when a travel by the Badgers gave the ball back to the Tigers with 22 seconds remaining. The teams then traded layups to make it 85-80 with 6 ticks on the clock. Two BC free throws with 5 seconds left closed out the scoring.
Spring Hill shot 45.2% (28-62) from the field and 40% (8-20) from 3-point range. The Badgers lost 17 turnovers to 13 steals by the Benedict defense. Davidson topped the Badger scorecard with 20 points while Kabamba added 15 points with 13 rebounds, Daniels dropped in 14 and Gray contributed 18 points.
Benedict made 50% (33-66) of their shots including 45% (9-20) from beyond the arc. The Tigers lost 11 turnovers to four SHC steals with the rebounding war being even at 35 apiece. Tajh Green led all scoring with 24 points.
The Badgers (1-5, 0-1 SIAC West) return home to face non-conference foe the Flagler College Saints (4-2) at 7 p.m. Friday in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center. Earlier this season, the Saints took a 99-71 neutral-court victory over the Badgers on November 20, 2021 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
