ATLANTA, Ga. (December 18, 2021) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team endured an 88-83 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road loss to the Clark Atlanta University (CAU) Panthers at L.S. Epps Gymnasium on Saturday evening.
The Panthers (4-6, 2-3 SIAC East) and the Badgers found themselves knotted at 33-33 with 1:56 left in the first half when a put-back layup gave SHC a 35-33 lead with 1:09 until the intermission. A late run by the Panthers made it a 42-37 CAU edge at halftime, however.
CAU fought out to a 49-42 cushion three-and-a-half minutes into the second half and maintained a 56-51 advantage at 12:25. The Panthers retained a 69-60 margin with 7:53 remaining and a 75-65 edge at 6:04.
SHC rallied to cut the deficit down to 77-72 with 3:23 left on the scoreboard, but struggled to catch the Panthers who kept the lead at 83-78 with 49 seconds left. A Badger 3-pointer from the top of the arc made the score 83-81 with 33 seconds to play, but a full-court in-bounds pass led to a Panther fast-break bucket on the other end.
SHC found a bucket to make it 85-83, but CAU answered with two free throws to keep the difference at four points. A final Panther free throw with two seconds left gave the game its final score.
Ashton Hawkins led SHC with 23 points while
David Daniels had 15 points;
Sam Davidson pitched in 13; and
Jaden Gray added 12. Daniels also hauled in 11 rebounds. The Badgers shot a solid 50.8% (31-61) from the floor and 47.1% (8-17) from 3-point range, but lost 27 turnovers to 16 CAU steals. SHC dominated the boards by a 47-27 margin in rebounding.
CAU's Chris Martin poured in 33 points as Jalen Williams added 13 points. The Panthers shot 44.6% (29-65) from the field and 36.8% (7-19) from 3-point land while losing 17 turnovers to eight SHC steals.
The Badgers (1-9, 0-4 SIAC West) will take two weeks off for the Christmas and New Year's holidays before hosting the Savannah State University (SSU) Tigers (3-5; 2-1 SIAC East) at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 3, 2022 in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
