University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Kennesaw State
Nickerson's Last-Second Shot Lifts Kennesaw Over Upstate In Thriller
12/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2008
Kennesaw, Ga. - John-Michael Nickerson's eight-foot jumper with less than a second to play lifted Kennesaw State to a 66-64 victory over USC Upstate in the A-Sun opener for both teams Monday night in the KSU Convocation Center.
Upstate fell to 0-5 overall and 0-1 in the A-Sun after the loss. The Spartans will have a quick turnaround as Upstate travels to play Mercer Tuesday night at 7:00 in Macon, Ga., in another A-Sun tilt. The Spartans are playing back-to-back games in an effort to cut down on the number of classes the players will miss in the last week of classes before exams. Kennesaw improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the league.
Nickerson's shot capped a tremendously competitive second half of play as the teams traded shots without giving up momentum. In the end, Upstate did not score in the final three minutes despite getting two key defensive plays down the stretch and Kennesaw prevailed in a classic thriller between the two teams. In the 17 previous meetings, five games went into overtime and four others were decided by four points or less. Mezie Uzochukwu drew a charge and De'Marion Gordon caused a held ball that gave Upstate the possession with under three minutes to play, and Upstate converted two of four free throws on the ensuing possessions.
"Those were good plays," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "I think the good thing for us is the understanding that we have to make those kind of plays and dig in on every possession to be successful. We made a number of mistakes in crunch time. We had a couple of turnovers, a bad shot in the lane, a couple of missed shots around the rim and shot 50 percent from the free throw. We did everything we could possibly do to lose the game and even then we probably should have won it. There's a silver lining in there somewhere, I'm just not ready to look for it right now."
After Gordon created a held ball and Upstate had possession, Davis converted one of two free throws after being fouled down low to give the Spartans a 64-62 lead. Dixon's running jumper with 1:43 to play tied the game at 64-64.
Kennesaw made a key defensive play when its trap caused a traveling call on Upstate's next possession but could not convert as Dixon missed a three-pointer. After Upstate missed a jumper, Kennesaw held for the last shot. Nickerson took the ball 10 feet from the basket and drove to the baseline before hitting an eight-foot jumper with .07 seconds left to give Kennesaw the lead at 66-64 and, eventually, the win. Upstate had one last shot at the game and Davis' heave to Schneiders was deflected by Whipple as the Owls held on for the win.
"It's good to be in those kind of stressful situations although our schedule doesn't put us in that situation too often," said Payne. "We just made too many mistakes in crunch time."
Upstate opened the game by outscoring Kennesaw State 8-0 before Nickerson's free throw with 15:58 to play got the Owls on the board. Carter Cook scored five of Upstate first eight points to lead the spurt to start the game.
Upstate continued to control the game early on, holding a 16-8 advantage coming out of the second media timeout. Four different Spartans scored at least three points to give Upstate a 16-8 lead with 11:58 to play. The Spartans were aided in extending their lead after Kelvin McConnell picked up his second foul at the 13:07 mark and had to sit out the next seven minutes.
Kennesaw got within three, 22-19, but Upstate again answered to push the lead eight, 27-19, on five straight points from Nick Schneiders. McConnell was inserted back into the Kennesaw lineup with just over six minutes to play and he quickly made a difference for the Owls. He scored eight points over the next three minutes to lift Kennesaw into a 30-30 tie with 3:09 to play.
Spencer Dixon's free throw with 1:03 to play gave Kennesaw its first lead and his second free throw gave the Owls a 34-32 edge. Zadrian Gibson's bucket with 18 seconds left gave Kennesaw a 36-32 lead as the Owls scored the final six points of the half to battle all the way back to take the lead. Upstate aided Kennesaw by committing two of its seven first-half turnovers in the final two minutes of play.
Upstate started quickly in the second half as well, scoring the first six points to open a 38-36 lead. From there, the teams traded shots while not allowing either to gain momentum the rest of the game. The teams entered the second media timeout of the half tied, 53-53.
It took more than 31 minutes for someone other than Schneiders, Davis, Uzochukwu or Cook to score for Upstate, but De'Marion Gordon's layup with 8:51 to play tied the game at 55-55.
As the teams continued to go back and forth Upstate trailed, 61-60, when Uzochukwu made a key defensive play, drawing a charge on Dixon. He was fouled on the other end and converted one of two free throws to tie the game. Josh Chavis' layup with the shot clock winding down gave Upstate a 63-62 lead with 3:47 remaining, setting up the frantic final three minutes of play.
Uzochukwu finished with a career-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists to lead Upstate. Davis also finished with 16, while Nick Schneiders added 13 points, eight boards and three blocked shots. Cook finished with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. Upstate finished shooting 46.3 percent from the floor, but converted just 9-of-18 from the free throw line. The Spartans also turned the ball over a season-low 10 times.
Nickerson finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead Kennesaw. Dixon added 12 points, while McConnell finished with 10 points and four assists. The Owls finished shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and made 10-of-15 from the free throw line.
