Box Score BLUEFIELD, Va. - The Bluefield College men's basketball team are NCCAA Mid-East Regional champions. The Rams defeated Alice Lloyd College 79-72 Saturday afternoon in overtime at the Dome Gymnasium to advance to the NCCAA National Tournament next week in Winona Lake, Ind. The Rams men, join the BC women's team as regional champions and both teams leave for the Land of Lincoln, Monday.
The much bigger Alice Lloyd team took the early lead and built a five point lead before the Rams tied things at 13 on two Cordaris Towns free throws with 13:31 remaining in the opening half. Bluefield took its first lead 17-15 on two Zeke Williams free throws and a Towns trey made it 22-17 in favor of the Rams. ALC fought back and tied it at 25 only to see Bluefield open things up. Alonzo Howard's basket with 90 seconds left gave BC an eight point lead. Joseph McClain's half court shot at the first half buzzer gave the Rams a 41-33 lead at the break.
In the second half Bluefield's lead grew as high as 10 before the Eagles climbed back into the game. The Rams' lead shrank to two with just over eight minutes to play and ALC forged ahead with six-and-a-half to play, 65-64. BC and ALC exchanged the lead several times and Towns' trey gave the Rams a 71-68 lead. Two free throws by Alice Lloyd's Cody Stumbo tied the game at 71 with 20.2 ticks left on the clock, forcing overtime.
In the extra period ALC jumped ahead by as many as three but the Rams never folded. BC retook the lead 78-77 when Towns made a basket with 29.2 remaining. His free throw with 10.8 seconds to play sealed the deal.
Towns paced the Rams with a double-double, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He also had eight blocked shots and two steals. Sidney Knox finished with 16 point and four steals, while McClain added 14 points. Williams tallied 11 points.
Stumbo led Alice Lloyd with 18 points.
The Rams, now 21-12 await pairings for the NCCAA National Tournament which begins Wednesday in Winona Lake, Ind. Alice Lloyd finishes its season with a record of 18-13.