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Men's Basketball Missed Free Throws Help Quakers Earn Victory For Immediate Release: MEADVILLE, Pa. — Agony is watching someone from the other team shoot possible game-winning free throws. The jubilation of victory begins when both tosses missed the mark. The Earlham College men’s basketball squad survived the two free throw attempts by Allegheny College senior Casey McCloskey with no time remaining on the clock Friday night to post a 56-55 North Coast Athletic Conference victory. Trailing by one point with 6.8 seconds left, McCloskey drove the length of the floor and was fouled at the buzzer by Earlham junior Nick Welsh (Muncie, IN/Wes-Del). “I was hoping the officials would say that the light behind the backboard went off before the contact,” Earlham Head Coach Jeff Justus said. “When I saw that wasn’t going to happen, I was hoping he would miss one, because he is a very good free throw shooter.” McCloskey, who entered the contest shooting 76 percent from the charity stripe, missed the first one to the left and then had to shoot another. “It was off right and we were lucky,” Justus said. “We were just fortunate.” Allegheny (5-6, 1-2) started the contest with seven straight points before the Quakers countered with eight consecutive to go in front 8-7 with 13:18 left in the opening period. The Gators snapped back and eventually led 30-20 at halftime. The Quakers were solid on defense, but had 10 of their 14 offensive miscues in the first half. “In the games where we have communicated well in our zone we’ve played pretty well,” Justus said. “It was our offense that was giving them baskets. They had 18 points off turnovers, if you take those away it was really a good defensive game.” A dozen of the points of turnovers were in the first half. “We had very few pass fakes and we did not have good spacing,” Justus said. After fighting back to tie the contest twice in the second half, the Quakers fell behind 50-43 with 6:03 left. A seven-point run ending with a jumper by senior Markous Jewett (Richmond, IN/Richmond) made it 50-50 at the 2:43 mark. A pair of free throws by sophomore Tristian Gregory (Evansville, IN/Harrison) gave the Quakers the lead for good at 54-53 with 1:13 left. After senior LaRon Henry (Indianapolis, IN/Scecina) nailed a pair of free throws, he later missed the front end of a one-and-bonus situation that allowed McCloskey to score with 10 seconds remaining to set the stage for the final excruciating moments. • Box Score — EC — Contact: |
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Earlham College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |