Spalding wins the KIAC Men's Basketball Championship
Spalding wins the KIAC Men's Basketball Championship
Spalding Men will represent KIAC at National Tournament.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (February 24, 2007) No. 1 Spalding University beat No. 2 Asbury College for the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship 82-71 on Saturday.
Spalding edged away early to the biggest lead of the game at 35-9 with six minutes left in the first half. Asbury would chip away at the lead for the rest of the first half to narrow Spalding's lead to 41-25 at half.
Asbury continued their march back into the game with eight point run to narrow it to 59-51 with eight minutes left in the game. Multiple attempts to narrow the lead failed as Spalding would counter each attempt and end with the 11 point win.
Spalding (19-13) led the game with 53 rebounds compared to 22 for Asbury. The rebound advantage led to three double doubles for the Golden Eagles. Nana Duah had 15 boards with his 16 points. All KIAC Team member Chatrae'l Hall had 13 rebounds including 10 of them on the defensive end. Shannon Jones also had 10 points and 11 boards. Adrian Des Las Heras led the scorers with 20 points.
Asbury's (22-9) comeback began on Michael Spann's shooting with 20 points for the game. Brett Johnson contributed on the glass with 9 boards and 14 points. On the passing attack, Matt Pittman assisted 8 times on scores.
Spalding's win gives them an automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championship on March 7-13, 2007 at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri.
For more information on the national tournament please visit: www.naia.org.
|
Line Score |
1st |
2nd |
Total |
|
Asbury (No. 2) |
35 |
46 |
71 |
|
Spalding (No. 1) |
41 |
41 |
82 |