(Portions of this story were taken from the
Sewanee website)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - First-year guard Valentino Bryant
nailed a running jumper from midcourt with 0.4 seconds remaining to
give Sewanee-The University of the South a 65-63 Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference road victory over Rhodes College
Sunday afternoon.
After Rhodes’ Andrew Galow knocked down a lay up to give the
Lynx a 63-62 lead in the final seconds, the Tigers were forced to
inbound the ball from under the Rhodes basket. Junior Sam
Martin (Ringgold, Ga., Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe) lobbed a
pass to Valentino
Bryant (Hendersonville, Tenn., Beech), who was running
near midcourt, with hopes of a catch and shoot before the buzzer
sounded. Bryant caught Martin’s pass, heaved up a shot, beat
the buzzer, and sank a half court 3-pointer to snap a ten-game
conference losing streak. Bryant not only propelled the Tigers to a
65-63 win on rival Rhodes’ home court, but also to their
first SCAC road win since January 4th, 2009.
The contest was a tale of two halves, as the Tigers got hot in the first half, shooting over 60% from the field, but cooled off considerably in the second, including an eight-minute stretch without a basket. As a team, the Tigers went 14 of 23 in the first stanza, including an 8 of 12 performance from the 3-point line. Sewanee held a 40-29 lead heading into the locker room, but the Lynx were able to turn it on in the second half.
Coming out of the break, Rhodes found a hot streak near the 16:00 mark and were able to hold the Tigers without a basket for over eight minutes. The Lynx took their first lead of the contest with seven minutes remaining, going ahead 51-50 on a 3-pointer from Galow.
After Galow’s three found the net, Sewanee’s offense found its’ rhythm again and turned the ball game into a back and forth match for the next seven minutes. With just 3.0 seconds left, Rhodes found themselves with possession and called a timeout. Coming out of the break, Galow hit a crucial lay up to put the Lynx ahead 63-62 with just 0.4 seconds remaining. That’s when Martin and Bryant stepped in and connected to hand Rhodes a stunning defeat and send the Tigers home with their first win of 2011.
Bryant led all Tiger scorers with 17 points, while fellow freshman Anvil Nelson (Brentwood, Tenn., Brentwood) chipped in 10. Galow led all scorers with 24 points. Tyler Brown (Goodlettsville, Tenn., Beech) pulled down eight rebounds for the Tigers as Lewis Affronti (Virginia Beach, Va., Norfolk Academy) added five.
As a team, Sewanee shot nearly 46% from the field in the contest, going 22 of 48, including 11 of 26 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Lynx knocked down 21 out of their 40 attempts, good enough for a 52.5% clip. They went 8 of 12 from 3-point land.
Sewanee held the advantage in turnovers and rebounds. The Tigers grabbed 25 rebounds to the Lynx’s five and turned the ball over just nine times, compared to 12 giveaways by Rhodes.
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