Men's Basketball 1/26/2012 1:46:00 AM Damien Palantino, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Knights Suffer One-Point Double OT Loss

Box Score
GLENSIDE, Pa.: After leading by 13 early on in the second half, Arcadia University had to deal with visiting Albright College and their will to put together a comeback. Albright nearly got it done in regulation when the Knights, whose lead had slipped away, tied the game with :19 seconds left on two from leading scorer Khalief Trawick to force the first overtime period while the Lion's leading point getter Derek Hall forced the second, as he led his team to a 85-84 win in tonight's Commonwealth Conference contest.

Trawick finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Hall, also with a double-double match Trawick with 20 points while grabbing 16 rebounds for Albright, a game-high.

Colin McCarthy put up 17 points, Travis Saltus scored 12, Jason Thompson rang in with 11 while Aaron Lee-Webb totaled 10 for the Knights (9-9, 2-5 CC).

Arcadia led by 9 at the half (40-31) but got out-scored by the Lions 35-26 in the second stanza that saw five ties while the lead changed hands three times resulting in a 66-66 deadlock after 40 minutes.

The Knight's Jason Thompson started the game off with a nice turn around jumper to put Arcadia up 2-0 until the Lion's Dave Singleton responded quickly with a rebound put back to knot the score at 2-2. Nevertheless, Arcadia's next time down the court, Singleton, Albright's starting point guard and floor general, was called for his second foul of the game and immediately substituted out of the game with 18:03 on the clock. The Knights wasted no time going on an 8-2 run over the next 3 minutes to take a 10-4 lead.

Just as it seemed Arcadia had the momentum, Lion's reserve Justin Zimmerman went on a 5-0 run by himself with a 3-pointer and layup on back to back possessions. Albright's Derek Hall followed Zimmerman's lead adding back to back buckets of his own to cap off a 9-0 run for the visiting Lions giving them a 13-10 lead with 12:11 remaining in the half. The game of runs continued and now it was the Knights turn as Travis Saltus led Arcadia's 8-0 run to put the score at 18-13. Saltus was on fire to start the game scoring 12 of the Knights' first 16 points. After a 3 point shot and mid-range jumper from Albright the score was tied up again at 18 apiece with 7:36 on the clock. The next 4 minutes went back and forth like an argument as each team had an answer for the other.

With 3 minutes left, the score was 31-30, with Albright holding on tight to the 1 point lead. Not tight enough though as Arcadia responded with the largest run of the half, 10-0 to end the first and send themselves into the locker room up 40-31. Saltus ended the half 5-5 from the field with 12 points, while Albright's Singleton was 2-2 from the field with 5 points but only played 6 minutes due to foul trouble.

Arcadia came out of the locker room to take the largest lead of the game 44-31 after consecutive baskets from Joe Brown and Khalief Trawick. The Lions were not ready to give up though and with an impressive 21-6 run of their own they took the 52-50 lead with a 11:26 remaining. Both teams made sure no one left their seats the rest of regulation as the action was nonstop. Anything one team did, the other team had a response and with 1:24 in regulation the score was all tied up at 64 after a layup from the Lions Cornell Mickens.

The Knights failed to convert on their next 2 possessions while Albright converted on 2 of4 free throws thus, giving the Lions a two point lead, 66-64 with 24 seconds on the clock. That set the stage for Trawick to drive the length of the court and tie the game yet again at 66-66. But with 19 seconds still remaining the Lions has a prime opportunity to win the game but Arcadia would lock up on defense causing Singleton to travel as time expired, sending the game into overtime. From the 5:25 mark to the 4:17 mark of the second half, the Knights missed 8 straight free throws that proved to be extremely costly.

Albright initiated the scoring in the overtime period on a Mickens' layup. After one foul shot from Trawick and a jumper from the Lion's Shane Irwin, Arcadia trailed by 3, 70-67. With Saltus, Thompson, Brown, and Trawick on the floor, Colin McCarthy was the least expected suspect to respond with shot from 3-point range but when Hall gave him space, McCarthy rose up and knocked it down to knot the game at 70 apiece. The three was McCarthy's 3rd of the game but only his 6th on the season.

The teams exchanged baskets over the next few plays and with 39 seconds remaining, the score was still deadlocked at 74. As former NBA announcer and current Golden State Warriors head coach, Mark Jackson would say “Momma there goes that man again,” as Trawick attacked the lane and score the layup giving the Knights the lead with 9 seconds on the clock. Arcadia needed one more stop to secure the win but as Singleton drove the lane he left his feet and made an amazing pass to a wide open Hall who put in the game tying layup. Arcadia's McCarthy had a chance but his shot would not fall as the game headed into double overtime.

This time it was the Knights turn to initiate the scoring with a jumper from Brown and free throws by Malcolm Still to take an 80-76 lead. After a bucket from Singleton and Trawick, Arcadia was up 4 again. On Albright's next possession, Hall would turn it over and the Knights had the ball and an 82-78 lead with less than three minutes to go. The Lions however were able to muster up two consecutive stops and score to tie the game at 82-82 with 1:42 left. Now it was the freshman's turn as Aaron Lee Webb hit a fade-away jumper in the lane giving the Knights the 84-82 advantage with 1:21 remaining.

The score would stay that way until Mickens would find Pedro Perez in the corner for his 4th 3-pointer of the game. The shot gave the Lions the 85-84 lead with 10 seconds left. After a turnover by Saltus, the Knights fouled Hall with 4 seconds on the clock. He would miss both foul shots. Rashon Brock would rebound and give it up to Saltus to go the length of the court and throw up a prayer that would not be answered as it went off the back rim.

The game saw 12 ties and 13 lead changes in total as Arcadia who fought valiantly drop to 9-9 overall and 2-5 in the conference while Albright improves to 11-7 and 2-5 in the league.

Both teams shot extremely poorly at the charity stripe: Arcadia (11-24) and Albright (10-27). For the game, the Knights out-shot the visiting Lions in every category as Arcadia shot 52.5% to Albright's 43.6% from the field and 47.4% to Albright's 35% from distance. Albright out-rebounded Arcadia 56-47, including 27 on the offensive glass which allowed the Lions to shoot 17 more field goal attempts than Arcadia in the game.

The Knights' road will not get an easier as they travel to Elizabethtown, PA this Saturday, Jan. 28 to face off in another Commonwealth battle the Blue Jays (7-10, 3-4 CC) who just defeated the Commonwealth's top seeded Lycoming College Warriors. The Knights defeated E'town 75-67 in Glenside back on Nov. 30. Saturday's rematch tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Print Friendly Version