Alliance Remains Atop NBC After Escaping Louisville
Video Highlights
Alliance 62, Louisville 59
The Louisville Leopards lost a heartbreaker to the visiting Alliance Aviators 62-59 Saturday evening. As a result, Alliance remains alone in first place in the NBC and Louisville falls to third. The Leopards are now 7-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
Drew Noble did all he could to keep the Leopards in the contest as he scored 24 points, grabbed 14 
rebounds, and blocked 2 shots. Blake Hoover also poured in 11 and both Bryce Mathie & Jake Pukys added 9 a piece. Mathie provided several sparks with 3 steals and Pukys also dished out 5 assists.
The Leopards scored the first 6 points of the contest and held a 9-2 advantage early on. However, the Aviators rocketed back to take a 27-26 halftime lead.
After a see-saw second half, Alliance used a 7-0 fourth quarter run to go up 55-47 with 4:23 left to play. Louisville rallied back to get within 61-49, but they could not capitalize in the final seconds.
Alliance was without their leading scorer J.J. Kukura, but got plenty of production from Kordelle Phillips and Dale Dickson. Phillips dropped in 19 and Dickson poured in 17. They both hit 3 three-pointers each as the Aviators made 8 triples as a team.
With the loss, Louisville is now 14-39 all-time against Alliance.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the Tallmadge Blue Devils on Tuesday, January 14.
VARSITY STATISTICS
AVIATORS 62, LEOPARDS 59
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Alliance 11-16-18-17–62
Louisville 16-10-16-17–59
ALLIANCE AVIATORS STATISTICS
| Player Name | 3FGM | 3FGA | FGM | FGA | FTM | FTA | Points | Assts | OReb | DReb | Block | Steal |
| Dickson | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Phillips | 3 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| Brackett | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hammerton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kukura | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blue | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.Williams | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fletcher | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Williams | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8 | 19 | 19 | 47 | 16 | 25 | 62 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 8 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS STATISTICS
| Player Name | 3FGM | 3FGA | FGM | FGA | FTM | FTA | Points | Assts | OReb | DReb | Block | Steal |
| Austin Shaheen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Crank | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Matt Eddins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryce Mathie | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Andy Minster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Drew Noble | 0 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| Jake Pukys | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Aj Minster | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Libertore | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brock Haren | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Adams | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blake Hoover | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Mathie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Lairson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 5 | 15 | 21 | 40 | 12 | 15 | 59 | 15 | 9 | 15 | 2 | 8 |
Fouls: 21-14 Louisville
Turnovers: 23-16 Louisville
Records: Alliance 8-1, 6-0; Louisville 7-4, 4-2
JV: Louisville 61, Alliance 24
The Leopards JV team shutout the Aviators from the field in the opening quarter and continued to build on their lead throughout the remainder of the contest. Louisville won the game 61-24 to improve to 6-5 overall and 5-1 against NBC teams.
Brock Haren and John Lairson combined to match the Aviators total by scoring 12 each for the Leopards. Eleven different players scored for Louisville in the contest. Jared Holland also scored 7.
Alliance was led by DJ Hancock and Deverente Martin who scored 6 points each.
JV STATISTICS
LEOPARDS 61, AVIATORS 24
AVIATORS: Hancock 1 4-5 6, Martin 3 0-0 6, Blue 2 0-0 4, Payton 1 2-4 4, Hood 1 0-0 2, Thomas 0 1-2 1, Wright 0 1-2 1. TOTAL 8 8-13 24.
3-Pointers: None
Team FT: 8-13 62%
LEOPARDS: Haren 4 4-5 12, Lairson 5 2-2 12, Holland 3 0-0 7, Heater 3 0-2 6, Shaheen 3 0-2 6, J. Mathie 2 1-1 5, Hall 2 0-0 4, Hahn 1 0-0 3, Bast 1 0-0 2, Eddins 0 2-2 2, I. Mathie 1 0-0 2. TOTAL 25 9-14 61.
3-Pointers (2): Hahn, Holland
Team FT: 9-14 64%
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Alliance 1-7-9-7–24
Louisville 8-20-16-17–61
Fouls: 13-11 Louisville
Turnovers: 20-20
Records: Louisville 6-5, 5-1
