WILLIAMSBURG, KY – Tigers fall in a closely contested game 74-71 to give them their first loss on the season.
Starting the first 5 minutes of the game the Tigers were down quick with the Golden Bears quickly taking a 10-1 lead in the early minute. However, the Tigers were able to get the game little more under control and get the game back down to 13-6 starting into the 6
th minute of the game. Through the media timeout the Tigers were able to slowly start bringing themselves back in the game with
Jarius Key hitting a huge three at the top of the key making it a two-score game with a score of 17-12.
The Tigers were able to finally get their first lead of the game after
Malachi De Sousa was able to get a solid steal and push the ball up to
Keaston Brown which ultimately ended in a nicely, placed lob which pushed the score to 19-20 with the Tigers in the lead. With 6 minutes left in the half the Tigers and Golden Bears traded punches like two heavyweights in the ring the Golden bears led by 1 26-25 at this point with both teams having a heavy paint presence.
The half ended with both teams in very tight contest with
Jace Wallace getting called for a shooting foul with .6 left on the clock and were able to tie the game at 35 to end the half. Wallace was leading the Tigers in scoring with 10 at the end of the half closely follows by
Malik Muhammad with 9. The Tigers on defense were very active with 6 blocks and 2 steals, Offensively the tigers were shooting 41% from the field and 50% from behind the arc.
The game in the second half started as close as the first half ended with both teams sharing shots and physical play. The Tigers led 47-46 at this point with 15 minutes to go. The Tigers at the media timeout with 11:30 left in the game were able to open the basket a little more going up by their biggest lead yet of the game of 5 leading 53-48, shortly after the media timeout Key was able to get back on the board for the Tigers with his second make of the day.
This pushed the Tigers to lead by 7. With 5:34 left in the game the Tigers were able to keep the game at an arm's length with anywhere from a 5 to 7-point lead but going into the media time out the Tigers held a small lead of 3 only up 62-59. At 4:38 The tigers had lost their lead after a travel call on the tiger leading to putting the Golden bears on the line for a one and one which they made both. Right after the Tigers lost the ball again and the Golden Bears made quick work of the mistake in transition and went up by 64-62.
Wallace was able to get a shooting foul called after driving to the rim and was able to go to the stripe and make both tying the game again. With 2:14 left the Tigers had slowly fallen behind by 4 after a couple mistakes and fouls from the Tigers. With 34 seconds left in the game the Tigers were down by two after a timeout from the Golden bears, The Golden Bears came out for the huddle and hit a dagger jump shot with 23 seconds on the clock, but Muhammad came back down and got fouled in the paint and was at the like missing one and making another with only 20 seconds eft and down by three.
The Tigers were unable to get a turnover off the inbound and were forced to foul putting the Golden Bears up 74-69. The Golden Bears were forced to foul Wallace with 6 seconds left on the clock and he was able to go up and knock down both shots. The Tigers shortly after both makes called a timeout and looked to come out in a press and were forced to foul once again putting the Golden Bears back on the charity stripe where they missed both.
Game leaders for the Tigers were Wallace leading the way with 26 points 4 boards and 4 assist, also with a fantastic game was Muhammad with a double-double going for 14 points and 11 boards. The Tigers struggled from the field shooting 37% (23 of 62) and Struggled behind the arcas well going 31% (4 of 13). Free throws were also an issue for the Tigers shooting 21 of 33 from the charity stripe on the day. The Tigers, however, played solid defense with 6 blocks and 5 steals on the day.
The Tigers will be back in action tomorrow taking on the Alice Lloyd College Eagles at 2pm ET in Williamsburg , Kentucky.
