MOBILE, Ala. (February 7, 2022) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team bolted past the Kentucky State University (KSU) Thorobreds for a 77-58 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) victory at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on Monday night.
Someone forgot to take the lid off the Badgers' basket for the first four minutes of game time as the Thorobreds (7-12; 3-7 SIAC West) held SHC scoreless until the 15:10 mark of the first half when
Steven Lyles found the bottom of the net with a layup. From that point on, however, SHC would outscore the Thorobreds 23-5 over the next 8 minutes to take a healthy 23-10 lead in route to a 38-24 cushion at halftime.
KSU rallied to shave the Badger lead down to 57-53 with 7:45 left to play, but a 3-pointer from
Tana Kopa launched the Badgers on a 20-5 run to close out the contest punctuated by a thunderous dunk from Lyles off a feed from
Jaden Gray with 57 seconds showing.
Lyles led all scorers with 28 points while
Beril Kabamba added 13 points and
Sam Davidson contributed 10 points with eight assists and five steals. SHC shot 44.3% (27-61) from the floor and 28.6% (6-21) from 3-point range while draining 73.9% (17-23) of their free throw attempts. The Badgers controlled the boards by a 45-33 margin and forced KSU into 25 turnovers off 10 steals for 24 points-off-turnovers.
Jalon Andrews scored 19 points to pace KSU as the Thorobreds were 32.7% (18-55) in overall shooting and 19% (4-21) in 3-point shooting while contacting on just 60% (18-30) of their free throws.
Spring Hill has now won five of its last seven games including a current three-game winning streak.
The Badgers (6-15, 5-9 SIAC West) will return to road action this weekend as they visit Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday to take on the LeMoyne-Owen College (LOC) Magicians (11-8; 6-7 SIAC West) in Bruce-Johnson Hall.
