ANDERSON, S.C. – Behind a stellar offensive effort and prolific long-range shooting, the Anderson men's basketball team nearly upset South Atlantic Conference-leading and nationally third-ranked Queens, Saturday afternoon, but the Royals escaped with a 94-92 overtime victory on the Abney Athletic Center hardwood.
Despite the stout effort, Anderson fell to 7-11 overall and 5-7 in league play with its fifth consecutive loss, while Queens improved to 17-1 overall and 11-1 in the league and avoided dropping its second straight decision.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Queens outscored the Trojans, 42-24, in the paint and converted 17 AU turnovers into 23 points, but the Trojans' bench outscored their counterparts, 42-26 and Anderson won the rebounding battle by four.
Sophomore guard Randall Shaw poured in a team-high 27 points on 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) shooting, while fellow sophomore Shawn Benard added 19 points on 6-of-9 accuracy and dished out four assists. Freshman guard Christian Jeffords netted 15 points on the strength of 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc and sophomore forward Jeremy Bouton added 11 points. Junior guard Maurice Howard handed out a game-high five assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Royals connected on five of their first nine shots of the afternoon and opened a 12-3 lead inside the first six minutes of the contest. Queens edged out to its largest lead of the game, at 23-9, midway through the opening half before the Trojans shook off their sluggish start.
Trailing by 12 following a pair of free throws from the Royals' Daniel Carr with 6:39 left in the half, guard Lex Davis sparked an 18-8 run by the Black and Gold over the next five minutes that saw the Trojans battle back within 37-35 with 90 seconds remaining before intermission. Jeffords fueled the rally with a pair of 3-pointers, while Davis added another basket and Shaw chipped in four points during the comeback.
After the two teams traded a pair of free throws, Queens' freshman guard Rob Whitfield connected on a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner with Benard answering on the other end with a trey for the Trojans just before the buzzer to set the halftime score at 42-40, with the Royals holding the edge.
Second Half
The score was knotted six times in the second half, but the Trojans overcame foul trouble and an eight-point deficit with less than 13 minutes left in regulation.
With Queens holding a 58-50 advantage, Shaw dropped in two from the line, while Benard and Bouton nailed back-to-back 3s to even the score less than a minute later. But the Trojans were unable to overtake the visitors until Bouton scored on a layup to cap a 12-2 run that gave AU its first lead of the afternoon, 62-60, with 9:24 on the clock.
The Trojans continued their surge and steadily built an 80-73 lead with just a little more than three minutes on the clock. But Queens chipped away and pulled within 84-82 on a 3-pointer by junior guard Mike Davis with 31.2 seconds left. Following a turnover, the Royals' Daniel Camps grabbed his own miss and dropped in a layup to even the score at 84-84 with 12.5 ticks on the clock. The Trojans were unable to connect on the game winner in the closing seconds and the contest went to overtime.
Overtime
Bouton gave the Trojans a quick lead in the extra period, but the Royals crept out to a 92-89 lead with less than a minute on the clock before Shaw drained his third 3-pointer to even the score for the ninth time of the afternoon.
Queens' junior guard Jalin Alexander scored what proved to be the winning points with a pair free throws with 6.2 seconds left. Following a timeout, the Trojans' Randall Shaw drove the length of the court, but the sophomore was unable to convert a heavily-contested layup at the buzzer.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
A win for the Trojans would have marked the sixth home win for Anderson over a Top-25 ranked team since the 2008-09 season.
NOTABLES
• The overtime contest was the first for the Trojans since falling, 78-72, to Clayton State on Nov. 15, 2014, in the second game off the season.
• The Trojans equaled their best free-throw shooting effort of the season by going 21-of-27 (77.8%) at the stripe.
• The 11 treys marked AU's fourth-highest tally of the campaign.
• The Trojans have drained at least 10 treys two of their last three games and seven of their last 10 games, including a season-high 14 treys in the win over Newberry.
• The Trojans have dished out double-figure assists in three straight games and six of their last seven games.
UP NEXT
The Trojans wrap up the two-game SAC homestand by playing host to Mars Hill, Wednesday night. Tip-off versus the Lions is set for 8 p.m. at the Abney Center. AU defeated the Lions, 76-65, in the conference opener in November.
