On Friday, the St. Louis Hawks took advantage of a 32-point performance from Corey Hill as they defeated the host Bowling Green Hornets at Russellville High School to remain unbeaten in the first-ever CBL overtime contest.
Along with his 32 points, Hill, who played collegiately for Northern Iowa, also had nine rebounds and five steals for St. Louis (4-0), while Dwayne Polk added 26 points, nine boards and six steals. Lonell Johnson scored 16 points for the Hawks and Alex Jackson 15 points.
The Hornets (1-2) were led by Justin Taylor with 20 points and Vic Moses with 18 as six players scored in double-digits for the home team. Also for Bowling Green, Russellville’s Tony Key had 12 points and eight rebounds while Jamal Crook and Teeng Akol each netted 11 points.
The Hawks led 90-87 with two and a half minutes remaining, but Taylor hit two straight goals—one of them a 3-pointer—to give the home team the lead. St. Louis tied it, but the Hornets went ahead again with 17 seconds left in regulation on a goal by former Mr. Kentucky Brandon Stockton of Glasgow. The Hawks tied it with 5.9 seconds on a spinning rebound shot by Johnson.
Coach Otis Key set up a play for Stockton to drive the baseline. He got a good shot off, but it rimmed out to send the game into the historic overtime.
Bowling Green had three leads in overtime, first on a 3-point goal by Taylor, then on a goal by Moses via a halfcourt inbounds lob, and finally on a pair of Taylor free throws with 1:05. That proved to be the final points for the Hornets.
Hill tied the game with 42 seconds, and the Hawks’ defense forced the Hornets into a shot clock violation. Nicholas Reed hit the winning goal with 1.5 seconds left. By professional rules, the Hornets got the ball at halfcourt, but this time the Hawks double-teamed Moses when the lob came in, and he didn’t get off a shot.
The game was all Hornets early. Akol made consecutive good moves inside for goals to give BG an early lead, and Moses came off the bench to hit three baskets in a matter of a few seconds to make the lead 27-18 at the half.
With Key crashing the boards and leaving bodies in his wake, the Hornets built the margin to 18 on a rebound basket by Moses with 8:50 left in the half. The home team didn’t score again for over two and a half minutes, and St. Louis started chipping away at the lead. The Hornets led only 53-47 at the half.
The Hawks took their first lead at 62-61 on a goal by Johnson, but the Hornets came back to lead 72-66 on a 3-point goal by Key with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter. Unfortunately, for the home team they didn’t score again in the quarter. In fact, they went 10 seconds short of three minutes without scoring until Key connected on a spin move down low.
Phillip Gilbert, who had scored 27 for the Hawks in a win over St. Louis six days earlier, did not play in this game, but Hill, who had 17 in the earlier game, took up much of the slack. He was unstoppable at times.
The three former WKU players who had totaled 63 points in the earlier game, were far
Three current Toppers were in the stands to watch their former teammates. Brandon Harris was back for the second week while T.J. Price and Nigel Snipes.
The next night, the Hawks dropped from the undefeated ranks with a one-point overtime loss to the Middle Tennessee Storm at Fisk University in Nashville. The Tennessee team remained undefeated.
General Manager Waseem Moorad said the two teams with the best Central Basketball League record at the end of the regular season will play a one-game finals for the championship at the home court of the team with the best record.
The halftime entertainment involved a skills exhibition by youngsters involved in the Givin' Back program. They were led by its director, Coach Jae Allison.