Kent State Tuscarawas vs. Maine - Fort Kent Highlights (Video by Maggie Lampe)
Carpe Diem is an aphorism from Latin, commonly translated as "seize the day" and "enjoy the moment".
Those two words were printed on pregame notes distributed to each player in the Kent State University at Tuscarawas locker room before the game. And, seize the day and the big moments they did in upending visiting University of Maine - Fort Kent, 61-60, on Monday night in Founders Hall Gym.
The Bengals came to town ranked 15th in the latest USCAA D-I Coaches Poll, but they ran into the high-flying, unranked D-II Golden Eagles who have seized many opportunities recently winning five straight and eight of their last 10 games.
It was a classic heavy weight sparring session with three points as the largest separation in the first half and six points the biggest margin of the game that saw seven ties and 22 lead changes.
At the 4:23 mark of the first half and the Golden Eagles leading 21-20, Andre Leavell got the house rocking with a breakaway layup benefitting from a Jacob Hicks steal and outlet pass to go up by three. The Bengals responded with a six-point spurt to steal the lead back 26-23 with just over a minute to play.
With 46.4 ticks left, Malik Campbell snagged an errant Fort Kent shot and threw a perfect strike downcourt to Leavell whose rim rattling dunk delighted the home crowd and cut the deficit to 26-25. Fort Kent responded with a basket to take a three-point advantage before Campbell added two free throws with 16.7 seconds left to cut the deficit to one.
The Eagles blanketed the court with man-to-man pressure and Campbell stole the ball at half court and fired it down court. Leavell out rebounded two Bengals bigs for a missed shot at the rim and laid the ball home off the glass just before the buzzer sounded and KSU led 29-28 at the half.
The visitors struck first in the second half, but shortly after KSU grabbed a five-point lead when Braden Rostad bombed home two three balls. The first came when his number was called on an offensive set, while the second came after he blocked a shot from behind in the lane, raced to the front court and fired home a second bomb.
The lead see-sawed back and forth until the Bengals took a two-point advantage, 46-44, with 7:44 remaining. The Eagles were in tenuous control over the next eight minutes after Keenan Philpott tied the game with a scoop shot under the basket and Leavell converted on another layup after a Campbell steal for a 48-46 lead.
Holding onto a 50-49 lead, Rostad tip-toed around a defender and banked in a short jumper. On Fort Kent's next possession, Rostad came up big blocking a shot from point-blank range and the Eagles forced tempo. Gunnar Tharp got free for a deep three-ball and the Eagles built their biggest lead of the evening, 55-49 with 3:51 left.
The advantage was short lived as Fort Kent made a 5-0 run and trimmed the lead to one at 55-54 with 2:23 to play.
With 1:32 left, Leavell fired a one-handed bounce pass from the elbow to Mike Huberty who made a sneaky quick backdoor move past two Bengals defenders for a 57-54 margin. A UMFK hoop made it a one-point game at 57-56 at 1:11 and two free throws later, the visitors led 58-57 with 59.6 in regulation.
Leavell came up with a steal and basket for KSU with 33.2 ticks left to wrestle the lead back (59-58).
With :22 left, the visitors answered with a driving layup and the lead teetered back into their favor 60-59.
The ending was déjà vu all over again as Leavell rose above everybody in the lane to field a missed Golden Eagles attempt. He seemed to pause in the air for eternity after hauling in the carom and banked the ball into the bottom of the net with what would be the winning margin (61-60).
Fort Kent had two more tries for a basket in the final :09, but a tenacious Eagles man-to-man defense denied them on both opportunities. An airball sailed out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left and KSU had the ball under the Bengals basket. After a couple of throw-in attempts and several timeouts and the clock showing 1.2 to play, the Eagles threw the ball into the backcourt where the officials ruled it was tipped out of bounds by a KSU player.
With 0.3 left the Bengals inbounded the ball at midcout, but a subsequent shot went for naught as the final buzzer sounded.
The Golden Eagles improved their overall record to 10-9 with the win. They shot 41% from the floor converting on 26/63 field goal attempts, held a 35-34 rebounding advantage, came up with 10 steals and 14 assists.
Leavell made nine action shots and scored 20 points and was joined in double figures by Campbell who added 15 points, five assists and seven boards. Rostad ruled with glass hauling down 11 rebounds.
The Eagles enjoyed the moment, but more importantly, they made the most of their opportunity to impress the pollsters having beaten their third ranked opponent of the season.
With the spring semester just underway, the Eagles have earned some time off and do not play again until Saturday, January 25th when they host Wright State – Lake at 3:00 p.m.
Braden Rostad had 11 rebounds and eight points.
Malik Campbell scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. (Photos by Jason Keller)