SAVANNAH, Ga. - The 8th seeded Allen University men's basketball team saw their season come to an end Saturday evening as their second half rally came up short in falling 82-72 to 5th seed Kentucky State in the opening round of the 2023 TIAA SIAC Basketball Championship presented by Cricket. The week-long tournament is being hosted by Savannah State University at Tiger Arena.

This was the first year that Allen's men's and women's basketball programs played in the conference tournament as they make the transition to full-time NCAA Div. II member. Allen finishes their first full year in the SIAC with a 4-23 record overall while Kentucky State improved to 13-12 and advanced to a Monday second round game against Albany State.

After the first half was tied at 14 apiece, KSU went on an 18-7 run to get out to a 32-21 lead with 4 minutes to play in the half. However, Allen would not give up and promptly went on a huge run themselves to end the half outscoring the Thoroughbreds 14-4 to end the half and get within one of KSU's lead at 36-35. During the run, Allen got 7 points from point guard Chase Cook, a three from Darius Williams and back to back layups from Cam Sembly to close the half.

AU was within three points on a Cook three-pointer at the first media timeout before KSU went on a mini run to get up by 10 with 8:30 to play. Allen then got to within six points a couple times in the half, but KSU eventually stretched their lead to 15 points at 74-59 with 2 minutes to play.
However, Allen would put together a last-minute run led by the guard trio of Cook, senior AJ Baker, and sophomore Shawn Jones Jr. outscoring the Thorobreds 13-3 to come within 5 points of KSU trailing 77-72 with just 15 sec to play. However, KSU held off the charging Yellow Jackets for the opening win. Allen recorded more made field goals than KSU overall, 29-26, but KSU dominated at the free-throw line 24-8 to make up the difference.

Cook led Allen with a season-high 24 points on 3 of 8 shooting from three along with a team-high 6 rebounds and team-best 5 assists and 3 steals to lead Allen. Cameron Sembly also had a nice game scoring 18 points with 6 rebounds, a block, and a steal.
Baker finished with 9 points, 3 rebounds, and a team-best four steals while senior guard Darius Williams recorded nine points. Junior forward Mohamed Alkadi had 6 points and 3 rebounds as well while freshman forward Nakia Johnson pulled down six boards, blocked a shot and grabbed two steals.

The Allen Women will open play Monday at 5 PM from Savannah.


Cam Sembly pictured below courtesy of Jaymonte Mcleod.