MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team earned a thrilling 74-73 victory over the Tuskegee University Golden Tigers on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
The Golden Tigers (1-3) held a 40-36 edge at the intermission, but the Badgers proved they were playing to win as freshman guard
Jaden Gray swished a half-court bucket at the buzzer to pull SHC within 4 points.
While the first half was a period featuring scoring runs by both teams with SHC never quite being able to take the lead, the second half was a nip-and-tuck affair where neither team claimed a sizable advantage. Tuskegee clawed back from a 5-point hole when a 3-pointer by guard Steve Dulley connected at 3:32 to tie the game at 69-69. Then things looked bleak for the Badgers when guard Gregg Boyd scored four consecutive points with a layup followed by two free throws just 40 seconds later to stake the visitors to a 73-69 lead at 2:02 on the clock.
Freshman SHC guard
Sam Davidson put in a layup at 1:13 and junior guard
Christian Brandt made 1-of-2 free throws at 45 seconds remaining to cut it to a slim 73-72 Tigers edge. Gray then came away with a huge steal from Boyd, drew the foul with 19 seconds showing, and calmly drained both free throws to hand the lead back to the Badgers.
Tuskegee played for the final shot and a loose ball tie-up gave them the ball back with just .5 of a second left. A time out by the Badgers to see the Tuskegee line-up was immediately followed by a Tiger time out forced by a solid Badger in-bounds defense. The final play was a 3-point shot from the right side by Dulley that was online, but drew the back iron and caromed harmlessly out of bounds as the horn sounded.
Red-shirt sophomore
David Daniels led a balanced SHC offense with 14 points while Gray had 12 points and Davidson poured in 13 with 6 rebounds. The Badgers shot 46.6% (27-58) from the field, including 29.4% (5-17) from 3-point range.
Overall, SHC pulled out the win by doing more of the little things right. They turned 16 Tuskegee turnovers into 21 points, out-scored the Tigers 40-28 in the paint, and used 15 offensive rebounds to score 14 second chance points.
For Tuskegee, guard Gregg Boyd scored 30 points, but only 6 came in the second half as the Badgers began to figure out his style. Dulley had 19 points and 6 rebounds and Kaleb Morton came off the bench for 10 points as Tuskegee shot an impressive 56.9% (29-51) overall, including 29.4% (5-17) from 3-point distance.
The Badgers (1-2) will host the Golden Tigers again on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
