KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kenny Manigault had made the shot so many times it felt like a sure thing, but the senior’s runner in the lane rolled off the rim as time expired and No. 7-seed University of Pikeville lost to No. 2-seed Talladega (Ala.) 64-62 in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship on Saturday.
Manigault’s final performance in a UPIKE uniform was one to be proud of.
He paced the team with 20 points, pulled down seven rebounds and added two steals, two assists and a block. K.K. Simmons joined him in double figures with 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and Michael Eneh had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Utilizing some nifty drives to the cup, Talladega’s Shondel Stewart put together a game-best 22 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Brandon Peters added 13 points, scoring nine of them on three triples.
The team’s shooting percentages were nearly identical, with Talladega leading from the field 40.7 to 40 percent and from long range 33.3 to 31.3 percent. Both teams made nine free throws, but UPIKE took five more attempts, going 9 of 19 from the stripe.
UPIKE’s Colt Chapman made one free throw with 1:55 to play to go up by five at 62-57. That’s when Courtney Mack made two big plays for the Tornadoes, finishing a layup and then connecting on a three as the shot-clock expired, to tie it up at 62-62 with 44 seconds remaining.
Manigault got a good look from three in the final 30 seconds, but it missed the mark, and Wendell Pierre’s jumper in the paint barely rolled in to put Talladega in front 64-62 with 3.8 seconds left.
Taking the ball from deep in the backcourt to eight feet from his basket, Manigault got the shot off with time to spare.
For the first time in the tournament, UPIKE wasn’t massively oversized, leading to a faster pace and more shots flying through the air. The Bears started off hot, getting a deep three from Simmons and another from Brooks to lead Talladega 11-7.
Things cooled off for the Bears from there as the Tornadoes rattled off six straight points while UPIKE went scoreless for five and a half minutes.
With 6:17 to go in the first half, the Bears trailed by two at 22-20, but starting off with another Simmons three, the Bears were ready to run.
It ended up being nine straight points for UPIKE, including a long jumper from Simmons and two free throws from Christian Leach, to take a 29-22 lead. It was still a seven-point lead with 2:15 on the clock at 33-26, but the Tornadoes kept themselves in it with a 5-2 spurt to end the half.
After Manigault scored the first bucket of the second half to put the Bears up by seven, the Tornadoes went on a 14-0 run for a 45-37 advantage. Making it a game of runs, UPIKE answered with a 13-2 sequence of its own, eventually retaking the lead on a Manigault three with 11:05 to play.
Each team took a three-point lead over the next six minutes until Manigault gave the Bears some breathing room at 61-57 with 2:28 on the clock. Chapman’s free throw briefly made it five, but Mack simply hit some huge shots for the Tornadoes down the stretch.
UPIKE ends the 2014-15 season with a 28-6 record, while Talladega advances with a 32-4 mark.
