Tigers fall to Blue Raiders, 76-74

GEORGETOWN, Ky (GC Athletics) – For most of the 40 minute game between two Top 5 NAIA men’s basketball programs, it was No. 2 Lindsey Wilson College hitting the three-point shot. The Blue Raiders hit 11, including 7-of-10 in the first half. However, just south of four minutes left No. 5 Georgetown College came to life. The furious rally to erase a double-digit deficit came up short, 76-74.

Down 14, the Tigers’ (19-3, 4-3) Quan Poindexter started a stretch where the home team hit 4-of-5 from deep. They just hit three in the previous 36-plus minutes. There was a fifth hit, but disallowed, that would have changed everything.

With just more than a second left, Darion Burns poked away an inbound pass, chased it down into the deep corner, turned and fired what seemed to be the game winner. Unfortunately, he just stepped on the out of bounds line to nullify the buzzer-beating three and end the game.

Troy Steward had most of the fireworks in the final minutes, hitting three three-pointers, including one that put the Tigers in position for the Burns heave.

Steward scored 11 of his team-high 24 points in the final four minutes and had 19 of his points in the second half. Quan Poindexter was the only other Tiger in double figures with 16. Shadell Millinghaus sat out with illness.

Along with struggling from deep most of the game, the Tigers hurt themselves at the foul line. They hit 11-of-24 from the charity stripe. LWC fared better there as well with 9-of-16.

Bryan Wallace had a big game, 28 points on 11-of-23 shooting with three bombs. He came up with acrobatic shots to help LWC stay hot at points when Georgetown tried to turn the tide. Jordan Hamlette finished with 17, Kel Stotts 15 and Hannes Erhardt had 10.

GC returns to action 8 pm Thursday hosting Campbellsville University.