Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Cats lose again in the Cancun Challenge

The Catamounts dominated the first half of the game over Austin Peay, taking a 12 point advantage into the locker room at halftime.  However, two entirely different teams returned to the court after the break.

The Governors, led by the hot shooting of Travis Betran (22 points) and Anthony Campbell (21 points), out scored the Cats 41-29 in the second half, and escaped with a 1 point win over the Catamounts.

The Cats made a run with 3 minutes remaining in the game, and the Governors leading 70-62.  Outscoring the Governors 9-2, the Cats had an opportunity to tie the game with 2 seconds remaining, but Sinclair's three point jumper bounced off the rim, and the Cats had to settle for 2 points on King's rebound and layup, with no foul called.

One telling statistic, the Cats were only 3 of 8 in free throws made.  While Austin Peay was 11 of 16 at the line.  Better free throw shooting by Austin Peay, and twice the opportunities, sealed the Cats fate in this game.

If Howard loses today against Gardner-Webb in the second game in Cancun, as expected, the only two teams without a Cancun Challenge win (both 0-3) will face each other. But, it's even better, one of the two teams in the tournament that don't have a D-1 will pick up that first D1 win on Wednesday afternoon.

Howard will be 0-4, and the Cats are 0-4 (against DI teams) if these two team face each other.  

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