Balanced Attack Lifts Eagles to Road Victory at Welch College

Gallatin, TN: Fourteen players dented the scoreboard to help the visiting Alice Lloyd Eagles earn a nice non-conference victory over the Welch College Flames, 99-77. The matchup was held on Friday in the Volunteer state.

The Flames jumped out to a quick 8-2 advantage at the 17:32 mark before the visitors settled down with help from their bench. The Kentucky club would then go on a 12-2 run and take the lead, 14-10, at 13:23.

From that point, the two squads would play evenly, and as the clock went below the ten-minute mark, the hosts led once again 18-17. The Eagles promptly went on another burst. When senior forward Will Philpot connected on a power move inside the paint, he gave his squad a 30-20 advantage with 6:13 left in the half.

The visitors pulled ahead 42-31 with 2:41 showing, and looked to be in control. However, the home club promptly closed on a 9-4 run. The Eagles would lead 46-40 at intermission.

In the second half, the game remained tight, and ALC would lead 61-57 with 13:00 remaining on the clock. At that moment, the Caney Creek bench would come up huge once more. In less than four minutes, the Bluegrass boys would roll off a critical 15-3 spurt, sparked by six points from junior guard Jared Strickland. As the clock reached 9:00, Alice Lloyd led 76-60, and had seized all the momentum.

After that run, the Eagles would remain in control the rest of the night, and pull ahead by as much as 26 points enroot to the nice victory.

For Alice Lloyd (7-6), they were paced in double-figures by Philpot and Strickland, who combined for 13-19 field goals. Both would to finish with 16 points.

Junior forward Damon Tobler sank 6-9 field goals and added 14 points. He also recorded 5 assists. Senior guard Bryce Slone drained 11 points of his own.

Off the bench, junior forward Noah Caudill came in to contribute 8 points and 7 boards, while sophomore guard Brady Nelson dished out 6 assists. In addition, fellow sophomore Blaine Keathley led the day as he picked off 3 passes.

ALC shot a solid 56.2% (41-73) from the field and 43.8% (7-16) from behind the arc. They sank 83.3% (10-12) from the foul line and added 42 big rebounds, 19 assists, and 8 steals.

For Welch (6-2), Eli Scarlett and EJ Byrd both had 16 points. Their club shot 50% (29-58) from the floor and 38.9% (7-18) from behind the arc. They hit 70.6% (12-17) from the foul line. They also added 23 rebounds, 13 assists, and 5 steals.

ALC returns to action next week on Monday, December 19th when they travel to Beckley WV for a huge River States Conference matchup at 7:00pm. They then close out 2022 with an exhibition match on Wednesday against the Morehead State University Eagles at 12:00 noon.