Bishop State defeats Wallace men 74-73

 

When Fredrick Turner hit a three-point shot with seven seconds on the clock to go up 73-72, it appeared the Wallace Community College-Selma men had finally put Bishop State away.

Unfortunately, Sid Madise found an opening in the Patriot defense for a shot in the paint to give the Wildcats a 74-73 win.

In a game that saw 15 total lead changes, the evenly-matched squads slugged it out until the final second.

In the end, head coach Albert Southall said it was a game of missed opportunities for the Patriots.

“We played super ball in spots, but we couldn’t get any consistency,” he said. “When you roll back the clock on the game, you see that the free throws killed us. We’ve got to get better at the line.”

The Wildcats pulled away several times with leads of five points or more during the second half, but the Patriots kept storming back behind Turner’s 22 points and 14 from Byron Dudley.

At times, the Wallace defense plated on its heels, which Southall said allowed the Wildcats to hit easy shots.

“We stayed back too much,” he said. “But we’ve got to believe. We’ve got to believe and just know we can do it. That will give us some confidence.”

The loss leaves the Patriots at 3-1 in the conference heading into a Monday game at Alabama Southern.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Monroeville for games.