Conway, Poindexter help Tigers thwart Phoenix
Jacob Conway came up big at the right time for Georgetown College men's basketball. The sophomore has always been a sharp shooter and outside of Mid-South Conference play has shown flashes of what's in store if he gets hot. His break out game came Thursday in the quarterfinals against a very hot Cumberland University team as the No. 9 Tigers (25-5) rallied for an 85-82 win.
Georgetown is back in action 4 pm Saturday facing the winner of the University of the Cumberlands-Lindsey Wilson College game. University of Pikeville also needed a late rally in the tournament opener against Shawnee State University. The top seeded Bears will battle Campbellsville University, which won the only blow out of the day over thus far over defending tournament champion Life University. UPike and Campbellsville will tip at 2 pm Saturday. The finals are set for 4 pm Sunday.
After hitting four-of-six from deep in the first 19:55, Conway launched a deep three to beat the buzzer and have GC down just nine at the break. The team never led in the first 20 minutes.
"That one was a little emotional for me," Conway said. "I really wanted that shot and have us down single digits at the half. This is my first 20-point game in conference and it felt good today."
He had several other big buckets, but down the stretch it was the play of Quan Poindexter and Troy Steward that helped erase a late seven-point Phoenix (11-18) lead. Poindexter had six points, assisted on three others, came out with three defensive rebounds, one offensive rebound and a huge block.
He had an offensive rebound that led to two free throws he made, giving Georgetown the lead for good. His block came on the next CU possession and translated into one of two at the line and a three-point Tiger advantage. Poindexter finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
"I just was not ready to stop here," Poindexter said. "My free throws felt really good. The release. The follow through. I was using my legs like Coach (Briggs) has been telling me to.
"The block, I just was thinking he wasn't going to score right then."
Steward scored 10 of his 15 in the final 7:30 with GC trailing seven.
However, without Conway's team-high 23, the rally would not have been possible.
"It provided us a great spark today," Briggs said. "When he makes that first one, it usually means it's going to be a good game for him."
His conference high coming in was nine against Life University in January. However, in his freshman campaign he had seven on 2-of-3 shooting right here in the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center. He finished 8-of-10 from the field, 6-of-8 from deep, and 1-of-1 from the line with one rebound and two steals.
Eljay Cowherd fueled the defense and early had five of the team's nine points. He finished with nine total, three assists, one steal and one block.