Kentucky Reach comes up short 124-120
June 6, 2005 - World Basketball Association (WBA)
Kentucky Reach News Release
ELIZABETHTOWN, KY - Close, but no cigar. That seems to be the mantra for the 2005 Kentucky Reach.
The Reach, Elizabethtown's World Basketball Association franchise, overcame an early 13-point deficit, but ran out of gas late in a 124-120 setback to the Arkansas (Little Rock) Arch Angels on Sunday.
The loss was the Reach's second straight, while the victory for the Angels was their seventh straight triumph.
Kentucky trailed 123-120 with 11.8 seconds remaining after Myron Allen converted one of two free throws. The Reach called a timeout to prepare for an opportunity to tie the game. Chris Shumate, a 6-6 guard from Murray State, wound up with the ball on the inbounds play, but had his shot attempt blocked. The ball somehow found itself in Jared McCurry's hands, who under duress unsuccessfully tried to flip the ball to James "Boo" Brewer in the corner. The pass skipped just out of Brewer's reach, and hence Kentucky was forced to foul on the ensuing inbounds.
"I didn't really recognize how much time was left," said McCurry, who scored team high 27 points for the Reach. "I probably rushed more than I should have after I got possession of the ball. I knew there wasn't much time left though."
The Reach trailed 59-46 with 4:39 remaining in the second stanza after two free throws by Arkansas' Darius Eason. Kentucky began to slowly chip away over the next four minutes, trimming the margin to 61-58 on a long-range three-pointer by Brewer. The Reach trailed 65-59 at the intermission.
Kentucky finally regained the lead (74-73) in the third stanza when McCurry scored on a goal-tending call with 7:07 remaining. The Reach enlarged the lead to 80-76 when McCurry fired an alley-oop pass to Marshall Sanders for an emphatic two-handed slam dunk with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter.
"Marshall (Sanders) stepped up and made some nice plays for us," added McCurry, who also added seven rebounds and four assists. "His dunk gave us some momentum."
The Reach led 95-91 at the end of the third quarter thanks to Shumate's 24-footer from the top of the key with just four seconds left.
Shumate, who finished with 18 points, struck again early in the final quarter when he nailed another three-pointer with 10:27 left in regulation to give the Reach its largest lead of the game at 100-92. However, Arkansas answered with a 7-0 spurt and the game was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way.
Trailing 106-105 with 5:23 remaining after a free throw by the seven-foot Reach center Gabriel Hughes, Arkansas exploded for another 7-0 lead to regain control at 112-106 with just over four minutes remaining.
Kentucky fought back to tie the game at 112-all when Brewer came up with a steal and fed McCurry for a virtually uncontested layup with 3:15 remaining.
The Arch Angels built a four-point lead three times over the final two minutes, and the Reach cut the deficit to two points (122-120) with :13 seconds remaining on Brewer's driving layup. That would prove to be the Reach's last basket of the game. Brewer finished the game with 19 points.
Hughes added 21 points and 11 rebounds, while George Baker notched 15 points and a game-high 10 assists. Sanders contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds (five offensive).
Arkansas' Myron Allen led all scorers with 32 points and dished out nine assists.
The Reach (5-12) will host Magic City on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Central Hardin's Bruin Gymnasium.
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