SIAC Men’s Basketball Action Weekend Recap Jan. 19-21, 2008
The weekend wrap includes Morehouse continuing their unbeaten streak at home as they outlast Lane. Benedict defeating Fort Valley State, while LeMoyne-Owen sweeps through the state of Alabama defeating Stillman and Tuskegee. Stillman bounced back to defeat Miles on MLK day and Tuskegee, Clark Atlanta, Kentucky State and Lane experienced the winter wonderland in Atlanta as a Snow storm cancelled some SIAC Action.
Morehouse 75 Lane 63 Boxscore
ATLANTA – Morehouse had Lane College seeing double, in the 75-63 win over the visiting Dragons. Jerry Felder and Kenney Boyd put up doubles in points and rebounds and two other Tigers scored in double figures, en route to the double-digit victory.
The win extends to eight games the Morehouse unbeaten streak at Forbes Arena and improves the team record to 9-4 (6-3 SIAC). The ninth victory of the season matches the number of wins from last year’s team that went 9-16. After a Kenney Boyd layup put Morehouse ahead, 14-13, midway through the first half, the Maroon Tigers never trailed. But the Maroon Tigers let the scrappy, under-sized Dragons hang around for most of the game, before putting them away in the final minutes.
Felder, the power forward better known as “JP,” had one of his best games, since transferring to Morehouse from Austin Peay University. The 6’-7” junior from Smyrna hit 3-of-4 shots from the field and 8-of-8 free throws in the first half, to pace the Maroon Tigers to a 38-30 halftime lead. He finished with a team-high 19 points, to go with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Led by Felder (11-of-12) and guard Jelani Figures (5-of-6), the Maroon Tigers shot .76.3 percent from the free-throw line, their second-best showing this season. Center Kenny Boyd, whose .659 field goal percentage leads the SIAC, continued his accurate shooting, going 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. Boyd contributed 13 points and 14 rebounds. Forward Jason Reese chipped in nine points and five rebounds. It was the first time this season that the Morehouse leading scorer failed to make the double figures column. Brenden Stoner, who played only 16 minutes, went scoreless for the first time this season.
Point guard Travis sank four three pointers and two free throws to join the double-digit group, with 14 points. He also pulled down three rebounds and dished out four assists. Guard Paul Williams hit two clutch three-pointers in the second half that helped him contribute his season high of 10 points. Lane’s Maurice Daniels paced the Dragons with a game-high 27 points, on 11-of-22 shooting and Jacarri Neal chipped in 13 points. Lane fell to 1-12 (1-9 SIAC).
Benedict 75 Fort Valley State 61 Boxscore
The Tigers took on conference rival Fort Valley State University and guarded their house with a victory. The Tigers started off by taking control of the game with aggressive defensive plays by Martinis Woody. Woody scored 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds while teammate Benny Lewis contributed 6 points with 5 rebounds giving the Tigers a score of 42 - 29 at the end of the first half.
The Tigers continued to play strong as Lewis scored a total of 13 points and teammate Marcus Carroll scored 12 points leading the Tigers to victory with a final score of 75 to 61. Coach Watson and his Tigers are now 8-1 in the SIAC
LeMoyne-Owen 82 Stillman 78 Boxscore
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—The Saturday afternoon double-header against conference foe Lemoyne-Owen proved to be a difficult bill for Stillman’s men and women basketball teams. Poor second-half shooting was the prevailing Achilles heel for both teams as the men fell, 82-78. The men’s team falls to (0-10) overall, (0-7) in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
Guards Randy Layman-Henry and Bill Reese led Stillman throughout in game-two of the double-header. Layman-Henry finished with 18 points, while newcomer Reese netted a season-high 20 on 8-of-14 shooting from the field.
Stillman took a 37-36 advantage into intermission, and went up by as many as five on a Kuwam Are free-throw with just under 16 minutes to play in the game. LOC, however, would counter by taking the lead, and stretching it to a game high 10 with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Stillman then found new life after a sequence of back-to-back lay-ups off of turnovers helped the Tigers cut the double-digit deficit to 74-69 with 3:08 to play. But LOC would then put the game out of reach, scoring on its next three possessions, taking a brief 13 point advantage before Stillman would manage a series of late baskets.
Other Action on January 19, 2008
Paine 70 Albany State 64
Clark Atlanta vs. Kentucky State Cancelled due to Weather
Miles vs. Tuskegee Cancelled due to Weather
January 21, 2008
Stillman 83 Miles 69 Boxscore
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—The Stillman Tiger men’s basketball team has waited all season for this night. A night in which it not only earned its first victory of the season, but did so in convincing fashion, displaying the season’s best basketball by far.
Stillman fed off an electric Birthright Gymnasium crowd to defeat in-state and conference rival Miles 83-69 on Monday night. The win brings Stillman’s overall record to (1-10) and (1-7) in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Tigers shot lights-out in the first-half. Forwards Preston Cheatham and Brandon Ward led the way combining for 22 points and 11 boards to give the Tigers a 45-24 advantage at halftime. Stillman shot 54 percent from the field in the half, while holding Miles to just 10-of-33 shooting in the period.
The 21-point cushion the Tigers held on Miles at the break was the team’s biggest lead thus far this season. Miles would not get any closer than 11 for the remainder of the night. Cheatham and Ward both finished the night with 14 points, along with guard Randy Layman-Henry, who added with 14 of his own. Reserve guard Bill Reese pitched-in with 13 points in 23 minutes of action.
The Tigers also out-rebounded Miles 48-to-35.
Other Scores
LeMoyne-Owen 66 Tuskegee 60