JCSU Drops 90-88 Heartbreaker To St. Augustine's
JCSU Sports Information
Charlotte, N.C. (Feb. 11, 2015) – The Johnson C. Smith men's basketball team let a nine point second half lead slip away, as St. Augustine's took a 90-88 nail biter in Brayboy Gym on Wednesday evening.
Neither team would be able to take control early, as they battled through three ties. JCSU had the six point lead at 19-13 following an
Emilio Parks (Ashtabula, Ohio) free throw.
The Falcons' Anthony Gaskins knocked down a three pointer to bring SAU to within 19-16. On the following JCSU possession,
Markell Lotharp (Marshville, N.C.) boarded a
Stedmon Lemon (Lithonia, Ga.) miss to make it 21-16 JCSU.
St. Augustine's would cut into the lead again, this time on a layup from John Koger. Koger was fouled on the play and converted the free throw, tying the game at 21-21.
Raston Brown (Hephizibah, Ga.) would put JCSU up 24-23 after a three point play of his own following a layup and a free throw. Lemon would hit a three pointer with 8:17 remaining to put JCSU up 27-25.
After a Falcon free throw, JCSU would be whistled for an offensive foul and St. Augustine's could not take advantage. After the Falcon miss, Lotharp knocked down a three pointer, forcing SAU to call a timeout with the score 30-26 with 6:49 remaining.
Diondre Pratt (Morven, N.C.) would bring the Brayboy crowd to its feet with a nice alley-oop dunk putting JCSU up 34-28 with 5:54 left. SAU would then put together
Lemon would extend the JCSU lead to 42-38 with 1:00 to play with a three pointer, but St. Augustine's Tayron Gibson knocked down one of his own less that 15 second later to make it 42-41. Lemon would answer that bucket with a jumper of his own for the 44-41 lead. Both teams would trade turnovers and January cashed in a free throw with 9.2 seconds remaining to bring the Falcons to within two at 44-42.
JCSU got one last chance before the half and would come up big, when Parks received the pass from a driving Lemon, and was able to knock down the jumper to put the Golden Bulls up 46-42 at the break.
JCSU would start the second half hot, bolting to a 56-49 lead before St. Augustine's answered with a Gaskins' three pointer, making it 56-52 with 16:01 remaining. After the teams traded possessions, JCSU's Lemon was able to draw the foul, making the layup. His free throw completed the three-point play, putting JCSU up 59-52. With 15:17 left.
The Falcons were able to answer, drawing a foul on a three pointer. Gaskins would calmly hit all three shots, bringing the score to 59-54 at the 15:01 mark.
St. Augustine's would draw even closer at 61-60 following a pair of Gaskins free throws. JCSU's Lemon would score another jumper, making it 63-60. After a Falcon miss, JCSU's Parks was able to board a missed three pointer and draw the foul. After hitting two free throws, Parks expanded the JCSU lead to 65-60 with 12:25 left.
St. Augustine's was able to tie it by scoring two straight baskets, the first from Gaskins and the latter being a three pointer from Raheem Jolliffe, making it 65-65.
With JCSU leading 69-68, the Golden Bulls Parks got a jumper in the lane to go, but St. Augustine's again tied it up, this time with another three pointer from Jolliffe, his third of the night. The Falcons then took the lead with a free throw from January and a layup from Jolliffe, who was fouled on the play. The free throw gave SAU the 75-71 lead with 7:21 left. The Falcon lead would grow to 77-71 after another January free throw. The second free throw missed the mark, but the Falcons was able to get the rebound and a layup from Nick Tennell, making it 78-71 Falcons with 7:07 to play.
JCSU's
Robert Davis, III (West Friendship, Md.) got a running layup to fall and was fouled. The free throw missed the mark and SAU was able to force another JCSU foul, sending Jolliffe to the line. Jolliffe's two free throws make it 8-73 with 6:25 left.
Following two JCSU free throws, St. Augustine's Keith Crawford boarded his own miss and got a floater to go, extending the lead to 82-75. JCSU then responded with a Parks layup, making it 82-77.
The Falcon lead grew to 85-78, but JCSU's defense forced a Falcon turnover and Parks delivered a two-handed slam to cut it to 85-80. Another Falcon turnover led to a
Joshua Linson (San Antonio, Tex.) three pointer to make it 85-83 with 3:42 left. Another Falcon turnover, their third straight, led to a
Raston Brown layup with 3:02 to tie it at 85-85.
A free throw from Brown would give the lead back to JCSU, 86-85, but that lead was short lived as SAU's Jolliffee would hit a jumper from the corner, making it 87-86 in favor of the Falcons.
Both teams would trade three point misses, and St. Augustine's took the lead once more with 1:00 remaining after a basket from January to make it 89-88 Falcons.
With under a minute to play, JCSU was able to draw a Falcon foul, putting Parks on the line for two shots with 40.3 left. Parks missed both shots, and St. Augustine's grabbed the re bound with 38.7 left.
On the next Falcon possession, JCSU was whistled for a foul, sending Gaskins to the line with 12.1 left. Gaskins missed the first shot, but made the second. JCSU would rush up the floor but Davis, III was stripped by Tayron Gibson. Gibson then raced the length of the floor for the layup, but JCSU's Lemon blocked him from behind. JCSU corralled the rebound, but the three pointer at the buzzer from Davis, III fell short and the Falcons escaped Brayboy with a 90-88 CIAA win.
JCSU had four players score in double figures in the loss. The Golden Bulls were led by
Stedmon Lemon with 21 points. Lemon hit four three pointers on the evening.
Emilio Parks had 19 points and 11 rebounds while
Raston Brown had 14.
Markell Lotharp had 13 points.
St. Augustine's got a game-high 24 points from Anthony Gaskins. Also scoring in double figures for the Falcons was Raheem Jolliffe (20), Quincy January (17) and Tayron Gibson (11). January also had 12 rebounds for the Falcons.
JCSU shot 54% from the field (34-63) including an 8-19 outing from long range. The Falcons hit 43.9% of their shots (29-66) and went 9-19 from beyond the arc.
JCSU falls to 12-12 overall, 6-7 in CIAA play while St. Augustine's improves to 11-12, 5-8 in CIAA play.
