Crain anchors Miners in 101-98 win over Minot

December 16, 2007 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
East Kentucky Miners News Release


PIKEVILLE, KY. - Mike Crain hit 12-of-17 shots from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc Sunday night to lead host East Kentucky to a hard-fought 101-98 win over American Conference rival Minot. The Miners took the quarter points 5-2 in the conference game. "Minot is a very good basketball team and it says a lot about our young team to be able to post the win," said East Kentucky Coach Kevin Keathley.

"Mike Crain stepped up and had a tremendous game for our team. Mike is capable of having that type of game on any given night. I couldn't be any happier with his performance. All of our guys came together and played as a team."

Ed Horton, playing out of a reserve role, added 18 points for the Miners. Josh Pace turned in a double-double effort of 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Miners. Pace also had six assists and two steals for the victorious home team.

James "Boo" Jackson, a player who was celebrating his 26th birthday, finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the winning unit. East Kentucky (7-8) outrebounded Minot 42-35.

The Skyrockets (7-4) led early on, exiting the first quarter ahead 30-23.

East Kentucky played its best basketball in the second and fourth quarters. The Miners outscored Minot 32-22 in the second quarter en route to a 55-52 halftime advantage. Six different Minot players reached double figures in the scoring column. Sidney Holmes led the Skyrockets with 21 points. Ronnie Fields followed with 20 points for the Minot team. Kevin Rice scored 18 points and John Strickland added 16 for the Skyrockets.

Marshall Phillips scored 11 points and Kellen Miliner added 10 for Minot in the setback. Holmes and Strickland led Minot on the boards with eight rebounds apiece. Minot, after trailing at halftime, went back out in front in the second half and carried a slim 79-77 lead out of the third quarter.

East Kentucky held Minot to under 20 points in the final quarter, outscoring the Skyrockets 24-19. With the game knotted at 98-98, Ed Horton hit a shot to put the Miners at the century mark and ahead 100-98 with 24.9 seconds remaining.

Former Farragut Academy great Ronnie Fields, now a Minot Skyrocket, missed a shot to tie the game with 8.7 seconds left. East Kentucky guard Bryant Northern hit 1-of-2 free throws to secure the win for the Miners.

The East Kentucky professional basketball team will host Albany in a CBA American Conference game Monday night at the East Kentucky Expo Center.

Tip-off for the East Kentucky-Albany game - due to the severe winter weather in New York - has been moved to 8:05 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to get underway at 7:05 p.m.



Continental Basketball Association 1 Stories from December 16, 2007


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