KCU Men Lose Heartbreaker to Grace Bible

Grayson, KY – Knights' senior and the Mideast Region MVP, Hayden Dunn scored seven points in the final 43 seconds of Friday's last semi-final but it wasn't enough as Kentucky Christian narrowly missed advancing to Saturday's Mideast Region championship game losing to the Tigers 87-88.

Dunn hit a 3-pointer with just over six seconds remaining on the game clock to set the stage for a thrilling finish. The resulting inbounds pass to Joe Dekkenga forced a KCU foul and with under five seconds to go, he proceeded to miss both free throws. The Knights point guard, Owens Crawford cleared the rebound and forced his way up court before passing the ball to Dunn for the final shot. The officiating crew ruled the shot came after the horn as the ball rolled off the rim.

For the game, Dunn's 27 pts. led all scorers. He was 9-16 from the floor with two made three-pointers and a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. Brandon Barnes and Connor Maddox added 19 pts. each in the losing cause. The Knights' could only manage a very uncharacteristic .403 field goal percentage and 12-39 three point shots (.308). Even though KCU put up 13 more shots than Grace Bible, it wasn't enough to topple the hot shooting Tigers as they shot a strong .542 in overall field goals and a blistering .500 from the arc on 13-26 attempts.

Kentucky Christian must now play the waiting game as their only avenue to the national tournament would be through one of the available at-large bids. The full field will be announced (at-large bids included) Sunday following the national selection committee's conference call.