ALBANY — The 3. The steal. The drive. And THE DUNK! — the one they won’t forget at Albany State.
Go ahead and put The DUNK in all caps.
Truett O’Neal did. He snatched this game right from the best team in the SIAC, stole it, then slammed it home with a dunk that set HPER gym on fire.
Final: Albany State 67, Clark Atlanta 65.
Yes, that Clark Atlanta, the No. 1 team in the SIAC, and the NCAA South Regional poll’s No. 2 team in this part of the nation. It was all knotted at 65-65 and Clark was just taking its time before putting this one away. That’s when O’Neal flew out of nowhere to make the steal of an inbound pass and a move that ended with thunder — slamming the door with five seconds left.
“I just wanted to win,” O’Neal said “We had lost three straight so I really came out with the determination to get this win.”
O’Neal was around the basket all night, dropping in 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds for a double-double he — nor anyone else at Albany State — won’t forget for a while.
Then there was the 3.
That belonged to James Clark, who set up the final drama by bagging a 3-pointer with five seconds left to knot the score at 65-65 and give Albany State the chance for the upset. Clark finished with a game-high 18 points.
“We were down three and I knew we had to get the shot,” Clark said. “You take the big shot — you got to make the big shot.”
Few have been bigger this season, and the Rams hope the last-second dramatics give them momentum.
“This is a good win for us,” Rams coach Chris Cameron said. “We’ve been right there (with the best teams in the SIAC all year).”
The win improves the Rams’ record to 9-12 overall and 9-9 in the SIAC, while the loss drops Clark Atlanta to 17-4 overall with a 14-4 SIAC record.
Cameron loved that the Rams out-rebounded the Panther 34-32, wining the turnover battle (9-13) and outhustling Clark to get a 13-10 edge in offensive rebounding.
David Brown led the Panthers with 17 points, and Johnathan Simpson added 14 points, including the game tying and go-ahead three-point shots with just fewer than 30 seconds left in the game.
But it wasn’t enough.
“We focused more this game,” Cameron said.
Both teams began the game relatively cold from the field but ASU was
able to capitalize by converting missed field goals by Clark into easy
transition points to get the early lead.Oscar Morris was huge for the
Rams with 13 first-half points, building a commanding 10-point lead near the end of the half and eventually ended up leading, 31-22, at intermission.
The second half started with the Panthers' defense digging in on the
Rams. ASU went scoreless for almost three minutes as CAU cut the lead to 35-31, chipping away until the game was tied at 46-46 with 10 minutes left. The game would again be tied with a minute to go at 60-60, but that's when O’Neal simply took over. He drove down the middle of the lane and converted a tough layup that put the Rams up by two and setting up his heorics.
This win marked Cameron’s 50th win as head coach of the Rams.
“I’m excited and that's an accomplishment,” Cameron said. “But I’m more excited for the guys and the way they came out and played and because they got a win.”
The Rams next game is Saturday against Fort Valley State on the road. Then they return to HPER Gymnasium to host Benedict College on Tuesday.

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ASU WOMEN 64, CLARK ATLANTA 51:

The Lady Rams’ win marks the second time ASU has beaten CAU in as many meetings. With the win, the Lady Rams have won five out of six games, including four in a row.
“We are playing better now than we did earlier in the year,” Lady Rams coach Robert Skinner said.
The win improves the Lady Rams’ record to 8-14 overall with an 8-9 SIAC mark. On the other end, the loss drops the Lady Panthers’ record to 3-20 overall, 3-15 in the SIAC.
Nafeesha Frost had a huge game for the Lady Rams with 12 points and eight assists. Quinette Johnson also had a big game for ASU as well, scoring 12 points of her own.
“This was not one of my better games,” Frost said. “But we played better as a whole.”
The Lady Rams out rebounded the Lady Panthers 49-27. They also held CAU to 28 percent shooting for the game.
“We match up well against Clark,” Ram guard Alexia Adams said.
Jonae Prince-Coleman and Jessica Wright scored 11 points apiece for the Lady Panthers in the loss.
The Lady Panthers defense showed signs early and managed to force the Lady Rams into game-high 22 turnovers, but ice-cold shooting did not allow CAU to capitalize on its defensive efforts.
The game began with the Lady Rams dominating in all areas of the game.
With solid perimeter and interior team-defense coupled with execution inside on the offensive end, ASU jumped out to an early 10-5 lead over the Lady Panthers that eventually swelled to 20-7 midway through the first half. The Lady Panthers attempted to respond but the Lady Rams did not let up. ASU was aggressive when the ball was in coming off the rim and that led to them having a 24-10 rebounding edge over CAU. The Lady Rams took a comfortable 37-23 lead into halftime due in part to the 12 points provided by Johnson in the period. In the second half, CAU tried to mount a comeback and they managed to cut the ASU lead down to six but with a couple of well timed baskets by Callie Hamilton and a huge three-pointer by Frost the Lady Rams pushed their lead back to double digits and never looked back.
The Lady Rams next scheduled game is on Feb. 13 against Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Ga. Then they return to HPER Gymnasium to host Benedict College on Feb. 16.