Gramoy Becomes All-Time 3-Point Leader in 69-55 Loss
Alliance 69, Louisville 55
Owen Gramoy scored 17 points and hit 4 three-pointers, the last of which put him alone as Louisville’s all-time career three-point leader with 139. Unfortunately Gramoy’s historical evening was bittersweet as the Leopards (8-6, 6-4) fell to the Alliance Aviators (7-6, 5-5) 69-55 at Harry Fails Gymnasium Friday Night. Vernon Martin scored a game-high 26 points and Jalen Mays also added 19 points to lead Alliance.
Jake O'brien defends on an Alliance Inbound.
Alliance came out of the locker room ready to run as Sam Cundiff scored Alliance’s first 7 points propelling the Aviators to a 13-3 advantage. Despite Cundiff’s start, he wouldn’t score for the rest of the game and he wouldn’t need to. The lone field goal for the Leopards was a three-pointer from Gramoy that edged him closer to the record. Alliance got 6 fast break points in a quarter in which they doubled up the Leopards 16-8.
The Leopards roared back in a fast paced second quarter, in which the teams combined for a total of 17 field goals and 40 points. Louisville got within 24-20 before Alliance ripped off 6 straight points. Vernon Martin and Jalen Mays were just simply too much for the Leopards defense as each scored 8 points in the quarter. However, thanks to the inside play of Rocco Buccasso and Michael Schooley, the Leopards kept within reach. Buccasso scored all 10 of his points on the night in the second quarter, and Schooley added 7 of his 11 points in the period to close the gap to 34-30 at the break.
However, the momentum that the Leopards built up in the second quarter did not carry over into the third. The Vernon Martin show did continue though, as he scored 8 points for the second straight quarter, which included netting 2 triples. The Aviators outscored the Leps 14-4 in the period and took a commanding 48-34 lead into the final frame.
The Aviators continued to step down on the gas in the fourth. Vernon Martin canned 2 more three-pointers, Mays got his 8th and 9th field goals of the game, and Parrish Martin added 6 points in the quarter to help Alliance rip open their biggest lead of the game at 58-40.
The Leopards shrunk the deficit to 63-55 after a clinic of three-pointers from Jake O’brien, Mitch Sluss, and Gramoy. Then, with about 2:30 left in the game O’brien missed a three-pointer, which was rebounded by Schooley. Schooley then kicked it out to a wide open Gramoy who swished a three to tie Michael Brown (2006-10) for the most career three-point makes in Leopards history. Later in the period, Sluss found Gramoy in the right corner behind the arch. Gramoy buried home the trey that made him the outright all-time three-point leader for Louisville Leopards basketball.
Unfortunately, their would be no celebrating Gramoy’s extraordinary feat. It was the Aviators that flew high in this one. It was only appropriate that Vernon Martin swatted all of Dillon Frank’s three-point attempt in the final minute to put an exclamation point on a well-deserved 69-55 win. Alliance hit 11 of 12 free throws on the evening and outscored the Leopards in transition 14-4 to ice the victory. The loss is the Leps third straight in the NBC, which knocks them into a second-place tie with Northwest in the loss column.
VIDEO:
PICTURES:
– Photos Taken By Lisa Gramoy
STATISTICS:
LEOPARDS: Gramoy 6 1-4 17, Schooley 5 1-2 11, Buccasso 4 2-2 10, Minster 3 0-0 6, M. Sluss 2 0-0 6, O’brien 1 0-0 3, Frank 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 22 4-8 55.
3PT (7): Gramoy (4), M. Sluss (2), O’brien (1)
TEAM FT: 4-8 50%
AVIATORS: V. Martin 9 4-4 26, 9 1-2 19, P. Martin 1 6-6 8, Cundiff 3 0-0 7, Faul 2 0-0 4, Phillips 1 0-0 3, Mayle 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 26 11-12 69.
3PT (6): V. Martin (4), Cundiff (1), Phillips (1)
TEAM FT: 11-12 92%
NEXT GAME: The Leopards will host Canton South on Tuesday, February 1. JV will tip-off at 6:00 PM, while Varsity will follow starting at approximately 7:30 PM.
JV REPORT:
Louisville 51, Alliance 47
The Leopards trailed until the final quarter when they put together a 9-0 run that gave them a 47-43 lead with 2:53 remaining. Trevor Hostetler made the back end of two free throws with 13.5 seconds remaining to give the Leopards a 50-47 advantage. On the ensuing Aviator possession Ronnie Carter blocked D’Quan Hawkins potential game-tying three-pointer and then was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining Carter hit the front end of the double bonus to clinch the 51-47 victory for the Leps who improved to 13-1 on the year. Jake O’brien led all scorers with 12, while Cody Cheezan and Carter each added 10. J.J. Kukura lead the Aviators with 9.
