CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Queens junior guard Quan McCluney connected on one-of-two free throws with 61 seconds remaining in overtime to snap the seventh tie of the night and the No. 12 Royals held on for a 77-73 win over Anderson in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action, Monday night at the Levine Center.
"I am proud of the guys' effort tonight," said Anderson head coach Jeff Brookman. "We played hard, fought and played together for 45 minutes on the road against a quality opponent. We just came up a little short. A lot to learn from this game as we move forward to our next outing on Thursday."
Despite having three starters saddled with foul trouble for much of the contest and misfiring on nine of its first 12 shots coming out of halftime, the Trojans nearly claimed their fourth win over a nationally-ranked team in three seasons.
Anderson slipped to 3-6 overall and 3-6 in league play, while Queens moved to 10-4 and 9-3 on the season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Sophomore guard Crosby James II led all scorers with 25 points and pulled down six rebounds, while sharing game-high honors with four assists. Junior Jalen Hillery added a season-high 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds before fouling out late in the contest. Junior guard Kai Rivers netted 13 points and grabbed five boards, with senior guard Alex Keel coming off the bench to score eight points and equal a career-high by dishing out four assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The frenzied, up-and-down contest featured seven ties and 10 lead changes, but just two ties and four lead changes through the first half.
Sophomore forward Mack Burgett snapped a 7-7 deadlock with a basket off the glass at the 14:22 mark, which gave AU a brief lead, but the Royals countered with nine unanswered points as part of a 12-3 run over the next three minutes and built a 19-12 lead.
Hillery and Burgett then combined for five straight points to slow the Royals, but they countered with six straight points to push out to a 25-16 advantage with more than seven minutes remaining in the half. But the Trojans, who misfired on their first seven 3-point attempts, got back within six when James nailed a trey from deep on the left wing. Following another close basket by Burgett and 1-of-2 from the line by Hillery, AU was right back within one possession.
James offset four consecutive points by the Royals with five straight of his own to pull the Black and Gold within 29-27 at the 2:36 mark, and following a jumper by Queens' AJ McKee, the Trojans climbed within one when James converted an old-fashioned three-point play. Jay'Den Turner connected on a 3-pointer at the 50-second mark to set the halftime score at 34-30.
Second Half
Rivers dropped in a layup to start the second frame, but the Trojans went cold and connected on just two of their next 11 shots, which enabled Queens to gain a nine-point (47-38) advantage. But AU refused to go away and rattled off 11 straight points to take their first lead since Burgett's basket at the 14:22 mark of the first half, at 49-47. Hillery and Rivers capped the surge with back-to-back 3-pointers from the left side.
Queens countered with a 10-4 run to regain a 57-53 lead with 6:44 on the clock. The Trojans knotted the score at 61 apiece and again at 63-63 before McCluney sank one of two from the line and McKee grabbed the miss for the Royals. He missed the putback, but teammate Gavin Rains gave Queens a 66-63 edge with a short jumper with 51 ticks left. James followed with a clutch 3-pointer with 37.3 seconds on the clock to deadlock the score for the sixth time in regulation. Neither team was able to capitalize on free throws in the waning seconds.
Overtime
The Royals struck early in the extra frame and scored first, but Rivers and Alex Keel knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give AU a 72-68 lead – its largest of the entire night – before Jamari Smith hit a close jumper and Rains followed a free throw from James by dropping in a layup and getting the Royals within 73-72 with less than two minutes on the clock. Following a miss on the other end, McCluney hit two from the charity stripe with 1:11 showing to give Queens the lead. Smith added a jumper and McCluney went 1-for-2 at the line to seal the win.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE NIGHT
The contest marked AU's first overtime game since defeating Erskine, 85-82, in three extra periods on Nov. 20, 2019.
NOTABLES
• Including tonight's contest, the Trojans are scheduled to play seven games over the next 15 days.
• Tonight's game marked the Royals' third game in the last 20 days.
• The Trojans out-rebounded Queens, 18-17, in the first half but Queens won the overall battle of the boards, 43-38.
• AU pulled down 11 offensive rebounds and swiped a season-high 12 steals.
• The Trojans posted 10 treys on the night and have recorded at least five treys in all nine games, with a season-high 12 vs. Carson-Newman on Jan. 9.
• Queens improved to 5-1 at Curry Arena on the season.
• AU was bidding to win two straight over the Royals for the first time since the Trojans defeated Queens, 75-73, on Feb. 15, 2010, then knocked off the Royals, 85-84, when the series resumed on Jan. 25, 2014.
UP NEXT
The Trojans continue their three-game road swing by traveling to Newberry on Thursday. Tip-off against the Wolves at Eleazer Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.
