Lionel Brings Home The Bacon As Stars Sweep
By Nick Nicholas
The Kentucky All-Stars' 104-99 victory over their Indiana counterparts last Saturday evening at Freedom Hall gave the boys a two-game sweep this year. The weekend before, Kentucky defeated Indiana in Indianapolis, 96-93.
Ballard grad Lionel Bacon, who's headed to Mike PoIIio's Virginia Commonwealth club, led the hosts with a game-high 28 points. It was his clutch free throw shooting near the end of which enabled Kentucky to hold off a scrappy Hoosier bunch.
Indiana's ability to stay within striking distance was because of its nine three-point goals.
"You could never say that the game was over because two shots could totally put a team back in the game," Bacon said afterwards. "(Now) you have to play until the horn goes off."
When did you feel Kentucky had the game won, Lionel?
"When the horn went off I felt comfortable."
Following Kirk Mann's three-pointer which pulled Indiana to within four at 98-94, Bacon was successful on two one-and-one attempts. His Final free throw gave Kentucky a 101-96 advantage with only 28 seconds left.
An Indiana miss followed by a foul all but ended the visitors' chances. Cawood's Nick Sanford sealed a Kentucky win with a pair of free throws with only 18 ticks remaining.
"I feel like I've had a 1,000-pound weight lifted off my shoulders," said Coach Gene Kirk of the Kentucky All-Stars. "All this business of us being one of the best Kentucky basketball teams ever, with such great talent, I just didn't want to louse it up for our state."
A crowd of 12,683 witnessed the 77th encounter between the two states. Indiana leads the series 47-30.
Kentucky's Mr. Basketball, Rex Chapman, countered with 17 points and six assists in 29 minutes of work. Sanford added 14 points and seven boards while Felton Spencer battled for a game-high 12 rebounds.
Chapman's future Kentucky Wildcat teammate, Reggie Hanson, poured in eight points and grabbed six boards.
But it was Bacon who brought home, well. . .the bacon. With Kentucky clinging to a nine-point ' halftime lead (only three, three-pointers by Indiana could tie the game), Bacon would net 16 second-half points. On the night he connected on 10 of 16 shots from the Field and eight of 10 from the charity stripe.
Led by Terry Stevens, a 6-2, 190-pound guard headed for Western Michigan, Indiana almost overcame a 63-47 deficit. But the Kentucky team had too much talent for its opponents to handle.
"We felt in control the whole time," said Chapman, who thrilled the crowd with a spectacular behind-the-back dunk off an alley-oop sequence. "I don't think they thought they could win the game."
Stevens hit on eight of 12 attempts from the field on his way to a 22-point performance. Manns (Michigan State) and future Louisville Cardinal Mark Lenoir added 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Stevens (four), Manns (three) and Lenoir (two) combined to convert nine of 14 attempts from three-point range for the Indiana squad. Chapman and Sanford connected on two apiece from 19'9", while Carl Wallace (Union) and Frank Persley (UNC Charlotte) each canned a bonus shot for Kentucky.
Mark Jewell, Indiana's Mr. Basketball, was held to just 12 tallies.
In the first half Indiana bolted out to a
Bacon Facing Stern Test From Stevens
33-26 lead as Lenoir swished home a when Chapman scored on a break-away
10-footer from the right baseline. Sanford. basket.
however, cut the lead to four with a shot from With the score tied at 40-all. Bacon cann-
outside the three-point area. ed two field goals to give the home team the
Kentucky eventually tied the game at 35 lead for good.
Gene Kirk
Lionel Bacon