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Late rally propels ALC to 90-88 overtime victory over Campbellsville-Harrodsburg

Pippa Passes, KY: Senior forward Ben Soumahoro sank a pair of clutch baskets in the final minute of regulation to force overtime, then repeated the process in the extra session, to lift the Alice Lloyd Eagles to a thrilling come-from-behind 90-88 victory over a physical University of Campbellsville-Harrodsburg Pioneers squad on Friday afternoon. The win marked the second two-point victory the Eagles have earned over UCH this season.

In the opening half, the Pioneers combined hot shooting from long range with the inside power of twin towers 6'7 Warner Bryan and 6'9 Evan Frederick to grab an early advantage. They would extend their margin to as much seven points before the hosts responded.

Sparked by the one-two punch of senior guard Jacob Curry and junior guard Koji Anderson, who combined for 20 points in twenty minutes, the Pippa Passes posse fought back. Later, when junior guard Alex Rasnick buried a long trifecta at .08, it would enable the hometown boys to enter the locker room with a slim 43-41 advantage.

In the second half, Harrodsburg turned to guard Elijah Frye who poured in 20 points by himself to lift his club to the brink of success. Late in the game and hanging on to a 81-78 cushion, his club appeared poised to defeat the Eagles for the first time ever. However, the Caney crew had other plans.

In desperate need of a clutch play, ALC found Soumahoro who hit a difficult shot in the paint at .20 to cut the deficit to one (81-80). Then at .14, the Caney Creekers fouled UCH's Braden Smith. The Pioneer guard sank the first attempt  (82-80), but missed the second, giving the blue and white an opportunity.

With the game on the line, Soumahoro took the ball and attacked the paint. His pull-up jumper at .03 was money, sending the game into overtime (82-82), and sending the home-fans into delirium.

In the extra stanza, Pippa Passes senior guard Brady Nelson opened the scoring with a pair of charity tosses (84-82), but UCH delivered back-to-back drives to pull ahead 86-84 with 3:03 showing on the board.

After a huge hoop from Soumahoro tied things at 86-86, Alice Lloyd came through with a big stop on defense. At 1:30, senior guard Jared Strickland produced an inside bucket to lift his club to a 88-86 edge. Then after another big defensive play, Soumahoro delivered once more, scoring on a tough inside drive. ALC now led 90-86, but Harrodsburg refused to quit.

After Frye scored inside at .21 to set the score at 90-88, the Pioneers got a break when the home crew was called for a turnover. Fortunately, in the clutch, the Pippa Passes boys came through with another huge defensive play as the forced a turnover to seal the hard-fought victory.

For Alice Lloyd (9-3), three players reached double figures. They were led on the night by Soumahoro. After a rough first half, he came alive in crunch time to lead the way with 19 points and 13 rebounds for another double-double.

He was closely followed by Curry, who made half of his 6 bombs and finished with 18 points. He added 5 rebounds.  Anderson went 5-10 from the floor to provide 13 points. He added 5 rebounds of his own, and tied Curry with 3 assists.

The Eagles shot 45.9% (34-64) from the floor, 29.2% (7-24) from long range, and 71.4% (15-21) from the charity stripe. They registered 41 rebounds, 14 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks.

UC-Harrodsburg (7-4) was led by Frye with 25 points. His squad shot 49.3% (34-69) from the field, 42.3% (11-26) from behind the arc, and 50% (9-18) from the charity line. They added 43 rebounds, 21 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. 

The Eagles travel to Morehead State University for an exhibition contest on December 28th with the host Eagles at 12:00 noon. They then return home on January 4th to ring in 2025 by hosting the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m.