Posted: Nov 18, 2021
Meanwhile, after tossing in a buzzer-beating game winner on Saturday, the Cougars came within an eyelash of Deja Vu all over again, but this time the buzzer-beater rattled around and came out as the Cougars dropped a heart-stopper to the Raiders of Roane State by a final of 71-70.
The men's contest went back and forth for most of the night as neither team would hold a double digit lead. The Cougars held a slim lead for most of the first half as Khris Green, Marcus Averhart, Tony Sapp, Miguel Shaw and K'juan Banks all took turns tossing in shots.
A steal and slam dunk from Alec Kegler and a three-point play by Floyd Williams briefly put the Raiders on top, but a pair of tough buckets in the paint from Marcellus Taliaferro helped the Cougars to a 33-30 halftime lead.
A pair of slam dunks from Green and Averhart helped the Cougars cause early in the second half, but Roane State countered with a pair of rim-rattlers from Kegler and Williams as the lead changed hands eight times in the half.
The Raiders managed to gain a five point lead with just under five minutes to go, but the Cougars just kept plugging away and cut the lead to only one point at 68-67 with less than a minute to go and again at 71-70 with 16 seconds to play.
A crucial Cougar turnover with 1.6 seconds to play seemed to seal the win for Roane State, but the Raiders managed to turn it back over without using any time to give the home team an extra chance to steal a win.
The in bounds play came to Banks who turned and heaved a shot toward the basket, but this time the prayer went unanswered as the ball rolled around the rim and came out as the buzzer sounded with the Cougars coming up one point shy.
The Cougars (3-3, 1-1) shot 48% for the game while holding a slight advantage on the boards (34-30) and turnovers (18-14). Perhaps one deciding factor came from the charity stripe as Roane State hit 20 of 29 free tosses while the Cougars hit only 13 of their 25 chances.
Banks paced the Cougars with 16 points and seven rebounds while Taliaferro added 14 points to the cause. Floyd and Kegler led the Raiders with 14 points each.
The Cougars will hit the road next Wednesday for a pair of key Region games in Memphis with Southwest Tennessee and then return home the following Wednesday (Dec. 1) for a pair of contests with Walters State.
