Posted by Chris Megginson - Mon, Feb 1, 2010 - [Men's Basketball]
Caleb Harris drives to the basket against St. Catharine
Wintery weather over the weekend did cool off the hot
Patriots of St. Catharine College on Monday, as they enter Campbellsville University
coming off a Top 25 upset of Georgetown College and knocked off No. 9 Campbellsville,
56-53.
The Patriots struggled from the free throw line in the final
minute (3-of-7), but Ervin Williams toed the line for two freebies with 9.7
seconds to play that helped secure the road win. A 3-pointer from Shawn Savage
rimmed out at the buzzer.
"I never doubted that St. Catharine could play. I watched
them on a neutral court in November have Cumberland University down by 30 at
the half and then absolutely man-handle (No. 8) Southern Polytechnic at their
place a few weeks ago," CU head coach Keith Adkins said. "I haven't wavered at
all when I say they are one of the most talented teams in the conference. The
most disappointing and embarrassing part of tonight is to go out on our home
court with a Top 10 ranking and watch someone play harder than us."
St. Catharine opened the game on an 8-0 run, but Savage ended the Tigers'
scoring drought with a 3-pointer at the 14:53 minute mark. The Patriots managed
to keep their lead most of the half, but Caleb Harris put away three free
throws at the seven minute mark of the first half for the Tigers' first lead,
16-15. The shots sparked nine unanswered points by CU, but the Patriots rallied
to keep the Tigers' halftime lead only to a point, 25-24.
Williams opened the second half with a
basket to regain the Patriots' lead, 26-25, as the first of four lead changes
in the second half. Though the Tigers regained the lead, 35-34, St. Catharine
answered with 10 straight points. Back-to-back dunks by Arthur Latham and Josh
Edwards put an exclamation mark on the Patriots' 44-35 lead with 8:45 to play.
The rally wakened Tiger point guard T.J. Bishop, who had back-to-back steals,
followed by back-to-back 3-pointers to even the score, 44-44, with 5:41 to
play. But the Patriots were not going to fade away. CU worked the score even
twice more at 46 and 51, but St. Catharine found a late 3-point lead and held
on for back-to-back upsets in the Mid-South Conference.
Campbellsville, who was ranked No. 9 for the second straight week after the
NAIA Top 25 was released Monday afternoon, drops to 4-2 in Mid-South play and
16-6 overall. St. Catharine now moves into a three-way tie for fourth in the
conference at 3-3.
CU, now tied for second place in the MSC, will host West Virginia Tech (12-9,
2-4) on Thursday at 8 p.m. and No. 15 Georgetown (16-5, 4-2) on Saturday at 4
p.m.