Alice Lloyd Eagles Basketball take weekend opener over Georgia squad

Pippa Passes, KY: The Alice Lloyd Eagles returned home on Friday, November 14th  to battle the Toccoa Falls Screaming Eagles in the first of two games they would play each other over the weekend. The host Eagles led for over 30 minutes of the matchup and pulled out a 86-80 decision.

In the first half, the home squad started well. Fueled by the one-two punch of senior guard Jacob Curry and freshman forward Evin Eversole, the Pippa Passes posse jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead. However, the Georgia club would answer behind the play of Will Gray-Wilson and respond with a 12-2 burst to move ahead, 15-11.

ALC would then turn to senior Koji Anderson, and the quick-silver guard heated up to keep his club in contention. Anderson would deliver the last five points of the half, and his buzzer-beating jumper lifted the Caney Creek crew to a 37-35 advantage at intermission.

In the second half, the hosts remained in control and extended their advantage to a dozen when freshman guard Will Alexander bagged a bomb with 10:57 showing on the clock. 

Unfortunately, over the next five minutes, the Screaming Eagles rolled off a 19-5 burst of their own to pull ahead once more, 75-73.

Over the final five minutes, the Pippa Passes posse ran their offense well. Anderson quickly tied the contest on a mid-range jumper (75-75), then sank another big hoop to give his mates the lead. The Eagles then did a good job of running their offense and drew fouls on their opponent. The hosts would then salt the contest away by swishing 9-10 charity tosses.

For ALC (2-3) Anderson led the all scorers with 24 points on 10-18 field goals. He added 4 assists and 5 steals to his impressive performance.

He was followed closely by Curry and Eversole, with 19 and 18 points respectively. Curry drilled 5-8 bombs and 4-4 foul shots for his tally while Eversole hit 4 jumpers and 10-11 free throws to reach his mark. In addition, he registered a double-double by hauling down 10 boards, and also produced 4 steals

On the night, the victors shot 42.4% (28-66) from the field and 29.7% (11-37) from long range. They clinched the "W" by sinking 95% (19-20) from the charity stripe. They added 31 rebounds, 12 assists, 11 steals, and 1 block.

Toccoa (0-4) was paced by Gray-Wilson with 15 points. His team shot 44.3% (28-65) from the field, 33.3% (7-21) from long range, and 73.3% (11-15) from the charity stripe. They added 43 rebounds, 16 assists, 9 steals, and 1 block.