Senior forward Keith Davis waits for his opportunity to shoot two against Rust College Jan. 31 at Savannah High School. SCAD won the game 75-69. Photo by Freddie Bennett

By Michael MacEachern

Keith Davis scored 22 of his team-high 24 points in the second half as the men’s basketball team rallied from 11 points down to pull out the 75-69 decision over Rust College Jan. 31 at the Ron Love Athletic Center on the campus of Savannah High School.

The Bees, who were playing their first game in three weeks, have won eight of their last nine games and improved to 13-11. The Bearcats fell to 11-6. SCAD returns to action Feb. 7 with a 4 p.m. game against LaGrange College at Savannah High School.

Rust, which led 31-26 at the half, outscored the Bees 10-4 over the first two minutes of the second half as the Bearcats took a 41-30 lead.

The Bees reeled off seven unanswered points midway through the half to cut the Rust lead to three points (48-45) after Davis connected on a jumper with 10:31 remaining. However, the Bearcats responded with a 9-2 run to push the lead back to double figures (57-47) two minutes later.

SCAD, which forced the Bearcats into 25 turnovers, clawed its way back and closed out the game with a 17-3 run over the final 4:38. SCAD took its first lead of the second half at 68-67 after Owen Oliver made two free throws with 2:02 left. The free throws came after Davis forced a Rust turnover.

Rust took its final lead at 69-68 after Elmo Brown nailed two free throws with 1:09 remaining. Brown, who was held to seven points the last time SCAD faced Rust, finished with a game-high 34 points, including six three-pointers.

SCAD took the lead for good at 70-69 when Davis hit two free throws with 39 seconds left. The Bees added some insurance from the free throw line as Shaun Watson and Ryan Kaminiski each converted two free throws to give SCAD a 73-69 lead. Gerard Bowden added 14 points for the Bees while Oliver added 11 points and eight rebounds. Watson finished with nine points, five assists and five steals.


Equestrian program records Top 10 finishes
Four equestrian riders competed Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at the 34th annual Winter Equestrian Festival held at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Fla.

Ansley Grainger aboard Cindy Malphrus’ horse “Rococo” finished first, second and eighth in the Adult Amateur Hunters 18-35 year olds competition out of over 45 horses. Grainger also competed with SCAD’s horse “Sculpture,” placing third and fifth.

Jordan Siegel on SCAD’s horse “Art History” competed and placed sixth while teammate Hattie Saltonstall riding “Art and Design” finished eighth.

WEF is considered one of top horse shows in the country.

SCAD returns to action Feb. 7 at the Emory University Intercollegiate Horse Show.


Men’s lacrosse splits two matches
The men’s lacrosse club team split two matches at Daffin Park Jan. 31-Feb. 1. They were the first-ever home matches in the history of the program.

The Bees defeated Tucker High School 15-2 Feb. 1 as seven different players scored goals for SCAD. Craig Shaloiko and Wes Auburn each registered hat tricks (three goals) for the Bees. Pliny Reynolds led SCAD with four assists to go along with his two goals. Spencer Moore, Miles McNamee and Joe Garcia each tallied two goals. Dan Gutt contributed two assists.

A day earlier, the Bees dropped an nail-biting 11-9 decision to the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks are a member of the B Division in the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference in the United States Lacrosse Intercollegiate Association, which SCAD hopes to be members of starting this fall.

The match was a seesaw affair as both teams took turns holding the lead. Garcia led the Bees with four goals while Luke Mays and Reynolds each added two goals to the SCAD offensive attack. Shaloiko tallied the other goal for the Bees.

SCAD returns to action Feb. 21-22 when they host the inaugural Savannah Shootout at Daffin Park.


Basketball contest worth $40,000 in prizes
The SCAD athletics department is sponsoring a special contest at two upcoming basketball games. At halftime of the men’s game Feb. 7 (tip-off: 4 p.m.) and at halftime of the women’s game Feb 13 (tip-off: 3 p.m.), two students will be chosen at random to participate in the contest (four students total). Both games will be played at Savannah High School.

Each student will be given the opportunity to make a lay-up, free-throw shot, three-point shot and half-court shot within a 24-second time limit. Each student who makes all four shots will receive $10,000 toward their SCAD tuition. For more information, call the athletics department at 525-4800.


Baseball rallies for victory slugfest
The baseball team picked up its first win of the 2004 season as they rallied from seven runs down to defeat Brewton-Parker College 11-9 Feb. 3 evening at Grayson Stadium.

The Bees improved to 1-2 while the Barons fell to 0-1. SCAD returns to action Feb. 7 with a 2 p.m. home game against Guilford College.

Brewton-Parker banged out nine hits over the first four innings to take a 7-0 lead before the Bees tied the game with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth.

SCAD sent 12 batters to the plate and collected seven hits in the inning. Steven Argo and Rich Fallat drove in runs with RBI singles, while Bo Noon added a sacrifice fly for the Bees. James O’Connell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before SCAD tied the game at 7 on Andy Welsh’s two-run single to right field.

Chris Tirro gave the Bees the lead for good at 8-7 with a solo home run to left field an inning later off Brewton-Parker reliever Zane Miller (0-1).

SCAD pushed across two more runs in the sixth to increase its lead to 10-7 on a RBI single by O’Connell and a fielder’s choice by Tony Ruggiero.

The Barons pushed across single runs in the seventh and eight innings to close to within a run at 10-9. However, Fallat (1-0), who pitched six innings in relief, helped his own cause as he drove in an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a double to the left-center field gap.

The two teams combined for 36 hits (SCAD 19, Brewton-Parker 17). Welsh and Sean Smith each collected four hits, while Argo, O’Connell, Fallat and Tirro tallied two hits each for SCAD. Welsh, O’Connell and Fallat also each drove in two runs for the Bees.

Southeastern College registered a 5-4 victory over SCAD Jan. 31 at Henley Field in Lakeland, Fla.

The game was the completion of Jan. 30’s game that was suspended in the top of the seventh.

SCAD sent the game into extra innings with a run in the top half of the ninth inning to tie the game at two points when Sean Barber drew a bases-loaded walk.

The Bees took a 4-2 lead in the 10th on two more bases-loaded walks by Ty Mankovitch and Tirro. However, Southeastern tied the game at 4 in the bottom half of the inning on RBI doubles.

Smith, O’Connell and Ruggiero each had two hits for the Bees.

The baseball team opened the 2004 campaign with a 7-3 defeat to Warner Southern College Jan. 30 in Lake Wales, Fla. The Royals are ranked No. 4 in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 baseball poll.

Josh Eastwood drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the top of the first to give the Bees a 1-0 lead.

A two-run single off SCAD starter Tyler King (0-1) in the second highlighted a three-run inning as the Royals took the lead for good at 3-1. Warner Southern took advantage of two SCAD errors to score four unearned runs with two outs in the fourth inning and take a 7-1 lead.

The Bees scored two runs in the fifth on Welsh’s home run to right field. It was his first of the season. Fellow freshman Argo led the Bees with three hits.

MacEachern is the SCAD sports information director.