Eagles Earn Big Conference Victory Over OCU

Circleville, OH: Freshman point guard Koji Anderson poured in 28 points and the Alice Lloyd College Eagles displayed a solid all-around effort to earn a big 95-81 victory over the home-standing Ohio Christian Trailblazers. The River States Conference matchup took place on Saturday, December 3rd.

In the opening half, the Eagles came out strong behind the one-two punch of freshman guard Anderson and junior forward Damon Tobler, who scored 14 of their clubs first 16 points. Later, when senior guard Bryce Slone drained a deep bomb at 12:15, he gave the Bluegrass boys a 19-11 lead.

The hosts would ride the scoring of guard Jimmy Salamone to stay close, but due to the 26 combined points from Andersonand Tobler, ALC would lead 45-40 at intermission.

In the second half, the Ohio club opened with an 8-0 burst in just 1:16 to take their first lead of the night (48-45) before the Caney Creek crew settled down. Over the next 4:00, they would ride the board dominance of senior forward Will Philpot, as well as buckets from Anderson, Tobler, and Slone, to unleash a 16-4 blitz. Just like that, ALC led 61-52.

The Trailblazers would refuse to go away as they whittled away at the scoreboard. At 7:23, they would reduce the deficit to just four (73-69), and force an Eagle timeout. Happily, over the next 3:00, the Pippa Passes posse would apply the dagger by rollingoff a decisive 17-4 game-clinching burst, enroute to their third straight victory.

For the victorious Eagles (4-5; 2-1 RSC), four players would reach double digits. Anderson drained 9-13 field goals and 8-8 free throws to finish with a career high 28 points. He also grabbed 5 boards. He was followed by Tobler, who swished 8-10 shots to finish with 19 points. He added 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Slone sank four long-bombs to finish with 12 points, while Philpot had a huge double-double, finishing with 11 points and 17 monster rebounds.

Alice Lloyd shot 58.3% (35-60) from the floor and 50% (7-14) from behind the arc. They finished 78.3% (18-23) from the foul line. They also grabbed 36 big rebounds while adding 14 assists, and 3 steals.

OCU (4-5; 2-2 RSC) was led by Salamone with 26 points. His squad shot 41.7% (30-72) from the floor and 42.9% (9-21) from behind the arc. They finished 70.6% (12-17) from the foul line and had 30 rebounds, 19 assists, and 4 steals.

The Eagles return to action Sunday, December 4th, when they travel to Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY to battle the Bellarmine Knights at 4:00. They return home on Tuesday December 6th in a big non-conference battle against Campbellsville-Harrodsburg. They follow that up with a Thursday non-conference matchup against the Boyce Bulldogs.