Junior guard Karson Hayes (Little Rock, Arkansas / John L McClellan) recorded a team-high 18 points, but the Blackburn Men's Basketball team (7-9, 4-5 SLIAC) fell 70-68 to Principia (3-12, 2-6 SLIAC) on Tuesday night. Hayes hit 6 of 16 from the floor, including 2 of 7 from three-point range, and added two assists and two steals.
Junior guard Raushaun Amos (St. Louis, Missouri / Soldan) registered 15 points, all from the three-point line (5 of 9 55.6 percent), and three rebounds. Senior guard Duncan King (Peoria, Illinois / Richwoods) tallied eight points, shooting 60 percent from the field while adding three assists and a steal.
Blackburn jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening two minutes, before Principia answered with a Goodman layup and a Paulson three-pointer to gain the 6-5 lead at the 17:26 mark. Trailing 21-16 with 9:38 remaining, a 9-5 run off back-to-back three-pointers from Spanish import David Lopez (Barcelona, Spain / Sant Gabriel Viladecans) and a King three-pointer put the Beavers to within one (26-25) at the 7:42 mark.
The Beavers would stay hot on the Panthers tails and take a four-point lead with 1:36 left, but Principia closed the half with a pair of layups from Clark Davidson to tie the game to 35-35 entering the break. BC converted 7 of 16 (43.8 percent) from three-point range in the opening half.
Principia scored the first eight points of the second half to grab a 43-35 lead following a Goodman layup at the 16:48 mark. The Panthers built their cushion to as much as 12 points (50-38) with 14:11 remaining. Blackburn responded with four consecutive three-pointers on a 12-0 run to tie the contest at 50-50 on a King three-pointer at the 11:05 mark.
Trailing 70-66 following two made free throws from Hayes; a Nigel Ferrell (St. Louis, Missouri / Lift for Life Academy) layup put the Beavers to within 70-68 with 1:19 seconds left. BC would get the rebound after a missed free throw from Paulson with 11 seconds remaining. King would have a chance to take the lead shooting a three-pointer with two seconds left but unfortunately missed. The buzzer buzzed and the final score was 70-68 in Principia’s favor.
UP NEXT: Blackburn hosts MacMurray on Saturday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.