Late rally upends CEU in NJCAA semifinals

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Only four minutes away from locking up a spot in the NJCAA Championship game, everything unraveled in nightmarish fashion for the College of Eastern Utah.

The Eagles blew a 16-point lead in the final 3:50 and suffered a heartbreaking 68-64 semifinal loss to Howard College on Friday night.

The Hawks — ranked no. 2 in the NJCAA — ended the game on a 21-1 run after forcing CEU (26-10) to commit six turnovers and hitting 8-of-10 shots in the final four minutes.

Michael Glover scored 21 points and collected seven rebounds for the Eagles, who will now play in the third-place game tonight at 6 p.m. Jae Crowder had a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds for Howard.

CEU came out on fire to start the second half. The Eagles cut a 33-30 halftime deficit to one when Glover dunked the ball. Then, seconds later, Isaiah Williams converted a stolen inbounds pass into a 3-pointer to give CEU a 35-33 lead.

Those two big plays evolved into a 14-2 run — which Glover capped with a putback layup — that gave the Eagles a 44-35 lead with 16:00 left in the game.

CEU used an 8-0 run to push its advantage to double digits later in the half, going up 63-47 on a backdoor layup from Jonathan Mills with 3:58 remaining.

That's when the Hawks made an incredible comeback. Three straight baskets off turnovers set in motion the 21-1 game-ending run for Howard. The Hawks caught CEU and finally took a 66-64 lead when Josh Watkins stole the ball and took it in for a layup and free throw with 44 seconds left.

The Eagles had a chance for a game-winning shot in the final seconds, but Watkins blocked a 3-point shot by Williams with five seconds left.