FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. E For the second time in as many trips to North Carolina, the Shenandoah University menís basketball team was done in by a last second shot. This time it was Methodistís Eugene Grant, who nailed a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to give the host Monarchs a 55-52 USA South Conference victory over SU.
Methodist (15-8 overall, 11-2 USA South) clinches at least a tie of the regular season title with the win. Shenandoah (13-9, 9-4) still can clinch a No. 2 seed with a win tomorrow over Greensboro. The Hornets will be no worse than a No. 3 seed as Greensboro defeated Christopher Newport Saturday afternoon; this means that SU will hold the tie-breaker over the Captains even if CNU combines a win with a Hornets loss tomorrow.
The Monarchs extended their Riddle Center winning streak to 16 games with the triumph and its home winning streak over Shenandoah to 12 with the comeback victory. SU had led by as much as 16 points in the second half before the hosts made their furious comeback.
Still, the game was up for grabs in the waning moments as SU had the ball with 40 seconds left and the scored tied. Unfortunately, the Hornets turned it over on a backcourt violation following a time-out, giving MC the ball back. The Monarchs missed a layup and then committed a foul as Halston Camp (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) pulled down his eighth and final rebound of the evening.
Unfortunately, Camp missed the front end of the one and one and Methodist grabbed the rebound. MC held for the last shot and Grant drained the trey as he came off a screen at the top of the key.
Shenandoah tried to throw the ball long on the in-bounds, but the three-quarter length pass was intercepted at midcourt.
A complete box score and play by play can be found at http://www.su.edu.edu/athletics/mb/022104.htmÂ
Kenneth Purnell (Baltimore, Md./Lake Clifton) had a game high 20 and Chris Rhone (Washington, D.C./Northwestern) 12 for SU. Grant had 19 and Ivan Little 11 for the Monarchs.
Shenandoah completes its regular season tomorrow at Greensboro. The game will decide second place in the league.
