No. 6 Golden Eagles take down No. 3 Harriers in battle of top teams
Motivation was not needed for Saturday afternoon’s matchup that pitted two Top Six USCAA DII teams against one another in Founders Hall Gym.
The coaches didn’t have to post locker room blackboard material, nor did they have to remind their players that this was a huge midseason clash during their pregame pep talk. You can best believe however, that both coaches were talking about the game afterward -- a 86-79 victory by No. 6 KSU Tuscarawas over No. 3 Miami Hamilton.
Needless to say, the volume in the Harriers locker room was probably a little louder. Oh, the Golden Eagles celebrated, but in a more subdued mode, taking pride in their accomplishment and not losing sight of the fact that they travel to Hamilton for the last game of the season and have another big home game coming up on Tuesday.
Pick you poison, but there were so many instant heroes for the Eagles throughout the hotly contested game. Take James Roundtree for example. The burly freshman from Steubenville came off the bench to score four key baskets in a run that staked the Navy and Gold to a 41-29 first half lead.
Roundtree scored on a reverse layup off an offensive rebound, sank a 12-footer in the lane, drove to the basket from the elbow for another and rebounded his own miss from the low block for a big hoop in little less than a four-minute span. His spirited play helped the Eagles to a 45-41 lead at the break.
Maybe yet, it was freshman Kyle Shockley’s three-ball that cut a Hamilton lead to 62-61 after the Harriers grabbed their first, but short-lived lead of the game with 10:03 left to play. Or try on a Jordan Stevens triple from the left corner pocket that tied the game at 64-64, or better yet, a DeJuan Lawrence free throw that gave the Eagles the lead for good at 65-64.
Even when KSU Tusc built an eight point, 79-71, advantage with 3:45 left and MUH scraped their way back to within 81-79, those instant heroes reared their beautiful heads.
DeJuan Lawrence is not your average big man with a mediocre free throw stroke, but the Harriers chose to foul him which sent him to the stripe five times. All he did was sink eight free throws down the stretch, the last two spotting the Eagles to an 81-76 lead with 2:34 left. The latter tosses were huge because Hamilton buried a triple with 2:16 left to close to gap to 81-79.
Enter that Kyle Shockley kid again, who used a high pick by Lawrence to slip into the lane and sink a fall away jumper with just two seconds left on the shot clock. The ball found its mark and the Eagles led 83-79 with under a minute left to play.
Following a Kameron Shockley free throw for an 84-79 lead with :32.7 remaining, the Eagles turned up the heat. A sideline free throw in front of the Harriers bench was tipped away by Lawrence to London Cobbs who was fouled after scrambling for the loose ball. Cobbs sank both free throws at :18.5 for an 86-79 lead.
After an MUH three-point shot came up short, the Eagles grabbed the rebound and dribbled the clock out to raise their season record to 11-4. For the Harriers, it was their fifth loss on the season as they fell to 15-5.
Kyle Shockley led the Golden Eagles with 22 points, scoring 10 of them in the second half. Cobbs contributed 18, Lawrence had 14 making 8/10 second half free throws and Roundtree had 10.
The Eagles converted on 17 of 23 charity tosses in the game.
On Tuesday, the Eagles host CC Beaver County who is 10-6 in a 5 p.m. tipoff.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: No. 6 Golden Eagles take down No. 3 Harriers in battle of top teams
