Alice Lloyd Eagles place four in double-figures, take down Oakland City University, 93-86

Oakland City, IN: The Alice Lloyd Eagles showed their impressive balance, placing four players in double figures, and defeated the home-standing Oakland City Mighty Oaks, 93-86. The River States Conference matchup took place on January 30th.

In the opening stanza, the Eagles came out solid. Riding the one-two punch of senior forward Ben Soumahoro and sophomore forward Jackson Tackett, the visitors raced out to a 27-12 advantage with 10:12 showing on the clock. However, the Oaks soon received some nice offensive production from Jaylen Negron and Hunter Johnson to eat into the deficit. They were able to combine that with major foul trouble from Alice Lloyd's Soumahoro (severly limiting his minutes, and fight their way back to knot the score up at 36-36 just before the half. Fortunately for the Bluegrass fans, ALC scored the last 5 points, including a crucial late trifecta from freshman guard Kaleb Walker, to take a 41-36 lead into the locker room at intermission.

In the second half, the hosts quickly tied the score. Happily, ALC would feed the rock to Tackett inside the paint, and he could not be stopped. His play, plus the outside shooting of senior guard Jared Strickland and junior guard Jacob Curry, allowed the Kentucky boys to bust out to a double-digit lead once again. Although OCU would continue to battle hard, each time they made any sort of run, the Pippa Passes posse would always find an answer and extend the margin back out to double figures. This enabled the kids from Caney Creek to roll on and settle for the big 7-point victory.

For Alice Lloyd (14-6; 5-4 RSC), they were led on the night by Tackett, who was impressive with a big double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. He sank 8-15 attempts and both free throws. He was followed by Soumahoro, who, despite major foul difficulties, came through in crunch time by draining 7-9 attempts to finish with 16 points. Strickland produced 15 points and swished 8-9 charity tosses to keep the hosts at bay. In addition, Curry joined the double-figure club as he bagged 3-6 bombs to contribute 13 points.

In addition, junior guard Koji Anderson added 8 points, while junior guard Wilgus Tolson added 7 points and 5 steals while tying Tackett with 4 assists.

On the day, the Caney Creek crew finished at 47.8% (33-69) from the field, including 32.1% (9-28) from beyond the arc. They also hit 72% (18-25) from the charity stripe, grabbed 37 rebounds, handed out 13 assists, and swiped 9 steals. 

Oakland City (5-16; 2-7 RSC) was led by Negron and Johnson, both with 21 points. Their squad shot 45.7% (32-70) from the field, 27.3% (6-22) from beyond the arc and 69.6% (16-23) from the foul line. Additionally, they registered  45 rebounds, handed off 8 assists, and stole 4 balls. 

The Eagles return to action on Saturday, February 1st, as they continue their road trip with a matchup at Brescia University. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. EST.