Walker shoots Pilots into semis at RRAC Tournament
March 02, 2012
WAXAHACHIE, Tex. - Cody Walker nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the no. 14 LSU Shreveport Pilots men's basketball team to a 75-72 win over the Texas College Steers at the Schaefer Center on the campus of Southwestern Assemblies of God University in the first round of the RRAC Tournament.
The game-winning bucket from the Minden native cooled off an 8-0 run by the Steers that tied the game with a three from Wendell May with four seconds to play. Walker finished the game with just six points but none were bigger than the last three that he scored.
The Pilots worked hard underneath to controls the boards gathering 38 rebounds to the Steers' 35. Parker led the team with nine while TC's Jhimetriou Cochran was the game's only double digit rebounder with 11.
The LSUS defense forced 20 Texas College turnovers with Derrick Parker leading the way with three steals and also had three blocked shots. Isiah Bazile had two steals.
LSUS (23-7) shot 44% from the field as they topped the scorer's sheet with three in double figures. Parker led the team with 24 points after making 11 of 20 from the field while Greg Shyne, who got the assist on Walker's winning basket, finished the game with 19 points as he gathered most of his points from the charity stripe making 12 of 15 attempts while Isiah Bazile had 19 points and four assists.
Aubin Young almost couldn't miss from the field as he drained four of five attempts to finish with eight points. Mark Politte scored only two points but helped out with seven assists that was the game high in 18 minutes of action.
Texas College (17-14) had their dreams come to an end when Walker's shot swished the bottom of the basket to end their season. They did manage three scorers in double figures as they shot 41% from the field with May leading all scorers with 26 points while Jamal Robertson had 13 and LaDarren Williams 12.
The last second victory sends the Pilots into the semi-finals in the RRAC Tournament on Saturday (March 3) at 3 p.m. as they meet the Texas Wesleyan Rams (25-6) for a chance to move on to Monday's Championship Game. The visiting team won both meetings this year with Texas Wesleyan winning 79-73 in triple overtime at The Dock and the Pilots winning 61-57 at The SID Richardson Center.
