Miles rebounds with win over Kentucky State
Box Score The last eight seconds of Miles' 84-82 win over Kentucky State Saturday afternoon had to have seemed like an eternity for
Shaquille Cook.
The Golden Bears were nursing an 84-80 lead with the junior big man going to the line to shoot two free throws that could give Miles (8-8, 6-1 SIAC) some breathing room. But when he missed them both, it turned the contest against the Thorobreds (7-6, 6-3) from a very good game into a complete thriller at Knox-Windham Gymnasium.
After the misses, KSU guard Malcolm Smith (17 points) came down and scored a layup with just under three seconds remaining. Still, Miles just needed to inbounds the pass to likely salt the game away. Cook (four points, seven rebounds) was the inbounder and went to make a long pass into the frontcourt. But his airborne attempt slammed into the rafters, turning the ball over the the Thorobreds underneath their own basket and sending head coach
Leon Douglas into a conniption on the Miles bench.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Julius Barton (14 points, 11 rebounds) got the ball near the basket and had a good look but was fouled on the shot attempt and went to the free throw line with 0.4 seconds left in the game. But Barton missed the first one, then was called for a lane violation while trying to intentionally miss the second one. This time, the Golden Bears were able to get the ball inbounds safely to escape with the victory.Â
The game was close throughout. Neither team lead by more than seven points at any point and both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first half of a game that was knotted at 42 at the break.Miles trailed 76-74 with less than two minutes remaining before
Maiscei Grier (game-high 21 points) and
Joshua Johnson (10 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) combined to score eight points to help the Golden Bears to an 82-77 lead with 26 second remaining. Tryston Ford (11 points) would nail a cold 3-pointer and
E. Reginald Smalls (seven points) would connect on two free throws to set up the late theatrics.
Dorian Jordan had 13 points for Kentucky State. Joshua Samuels had 19 points and
Willie Gray added 10 for Miles, which hosts LeMoyne-Owen at the Bill Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
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