La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College outscored defending Colonial States Athletic Conference champion Neumann University 52-39 in the second half of Saturday's men's basketball game to defeat the Knights 91-80 in the Gambal Athletic Center. The Giants boost their record to 4-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play while the Knights slide to 4-2 on the year and 2-1 in the CSAC.
Keystone scored the first five points of Saturday's contest before Neumann used a 20-6 run to claim a 20-13 advantage with 12:26 remaining in the opening half. The Giants countered with the next seven points, tying the contest at 20-apiece on a layup by
Bryan Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Rialto) midway through the period.
The Knights went back in front 26-22 before Keystone used another 7-0 spurt to claim a 29-26 advantage on an
Austin Smith (Titusville, Fla./Florida Air Academy) trey at the 5:46 mark. Neumann countered with the next nine points to take a six points lead, but the hosts surged back ahead 39-38 on a lay-in by
Michael Leak (Cleveland, Ohio/Leon) with 44 seconds left in the frame.
The Knights would take a 41-39 edge into the halftime break after getting a three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining to close out the scoring in an exciting opening 20 minutes of play.
The two teams traded baskets over the first five minutes of the second half with Neumann taking a 52-49 edge with 14:47 remaining in regulation. Keystone went ahead 54-52 as
Mark Gilliam (Philadelphia, Pa./High School of the Future) hit a jumper before
JT Bennett (Kansas City, Kan./Washington) followed with a three-pointer.
Holding a 60-58 edge at the midpoint of the half, the Giants embarked on a 14-3 surge that pushed the hosts advantage to 74-61 with 6:39 showing on the clock. The Knights cut their deficit to nine points on three occasions in the final six minutes, but Keystone, which led by as many as 15 points, held a double-figure lead over the final 4:17 of the contest to pull away with the 11-point victory.
Bennett scored a game-high 22 points for the Giants while
John Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast) netted 15 points. Gilliam (13) and Smith (11) also reached double-figures for the hosts, who shot 48.5 percent from the field for the game and made 14 three-pointers, hitting on 46.7 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc. The Giants also went 56.7 percent from the free throw line.
Williams led all players with 11 rebounds while
Perry Belcher (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) dished out a game-high eight assists to go along with nine rebounds.
Tyaire Hudson paced Neumann with 19 points, five assists, and five steals and was joined in double-figures by Jaquan Johnson (14), Raquan Brown-Johnson (13), Billy Cassidy (13), and Aaron Johnson-Chavis (12) who led the Knights with 10 caroms.
The visitors hit on 45.8 percent of their field goal attempts on the day while going 33.3 percent from long distance and 53.3 percent from the line.
Keystone will close out play for the semester at the Don Glick Classic hosted by Bridgewater College this weekend. The Giants will take on the host Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night before meeting Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Bridgewater, Virginia.
