MEMPHIS, Tenn. (February 12, 2022) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team stretched its current winning streak to four games with an 80-77 victory over the LeMoyne-Owen College (LOC) Magicians in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) play at Bruce-Johnson Hall on Saturday night.
The Magicians (11-10; 6-8 SIAC West) held a slim 40-38 lead at the halftime intermission, but the Badgers immediately took a 42-40 lead with a reverse layup and a short jumper from
Tana Kopa.
Spring Hill's offense began to click in the second period as the Badgers built out a 10-point cushion at 58-48 with 12 minutes left on the clock, but LOC rallied to make it just a 69-68 SHC lead with 4:33 to go.
The Badgers used another run to go up 77-70 with 2:26 to play as the Magicians suffered a 5-shot dry spell at the free throw line to help the SHC cause. The Magicians would fight back, however, to make it a precarious 78-77 Badger lead with 20 seconds left.
Beril Kabamba drained two free throws to make it 80-77 at 16 seconds showing on the scoreboard and a long 3-point attempt by LOC from the top of the key bounced off the back iron of the rim at the horn for the Badger win.
Kabamba paced SHC with a personal season-high of 28 points along with a game-high 15 rebounds.
John Abate added 22 and
Tana Kopa contributed 19 points. The Badgers shot an even 50% (29-58) from the floor and 33.3% (8-24) from 3-point range while knocking down 87.5% (14-16) of their free throws and out-rebounding LOC 34-27. SHC continued to struggle with turnovers as they lost 22 fumbles to 18 steals by the Magicians resulting in 23 points on the other end of the court.
LOC shot 47.6% (30-63) overall and 29.4% (5-17) from long distance, but converted only 48% (12-25) of their free throw opportunities. Andrew Anderson scored 22 for the home team as four Magicians reached double-digits in scoring.
This is the first 4-game win streak by the Badgers since winning five consecutive games during the 2017-18 season.
The Badgers (7-15, 6-9 SIAC West) will travel to Birmingham, Ala. for a Monday showdown with the West Division-leading Miles College Golden Bears (19-3; 12-1 SIAC West) beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Knox-Windham Gymnasium.
