Kentucky Christian Downs Berea in OT
Grayson, KY – On this Thursday night, 40 minutes of regulation time just wasn't enough to determine a winner between the Knights and Mountaineers. When the horn sounded following the overtime period, KCU had outscored Berea by two points to claim the win 91-89.
With under three minutes to play in regulation, Berea's lead had ballooned to 10 points and it appeared the Knights would drop a hard-fought contest to the Mountaineers, but KCU began cutting into the BC lead with good defense and full-court pressure. With one-minute remaining, the lead had shrunk to four-points and head coach Akeem Scott subbed in Connor Maddox for his three-point shooting and he immediately delivered with a three from well behind the arc. The lead is at one with 26 seconds remaining and Torell Carter calmly sank two free throws to make the margin three. Once again, Maddox hits a three to force overtime.
In the overtime, neither team managed more than a two-point lead and it wasn't until Matthew Lee's basket with 3.9 seconds remained that the game was decided. Lee was one of five Knights to reach double figures in scoring with 12-points on 5-10 shooting from the floor. Leading the way was Hayden Dunn's double-double of 29 points and 11 rebounds followed by Chase Porter (17 pts), Brandon Barnes (15 pts) and Maddox with 10. Five different Knights also had four assists for their evening's work which helped KCU develop an 11 assist advantage.
Defensively, Kentucky Christian held a 14-8 lead in steals and committed 13 fewer turnovers. These numbers enabled the Knights to enjoy a 20 shot margin from the floor even though they were completely out-rebounded by the much bigger Berea squad.
KCU returns to action on Tuesday, December 12th for an 11:00 AM tip at Morehead State University