Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Luke Zeller scored 14 points for the second straight outing.

 
Luke Zeller's Final Attempt Falls Shorts As Athletes In Action Drops 105-103 Decision

Irish forward finishes with 14 points and eight rebounds as AIA falls to 0-2.

Aug. 12, 2007

Sydney, Australia - Luke Zeller's (Washington, Ind.) had hopes of leading his Athletes In Action squad to victory on Sunday afternoon against the Sydney Kings at the Alexandria Basketball Stadium, but his jump shot fell short as time expired with AIA dropping a 105-103 decision. Zeller, who finished with 14 points (for the second straight game) and eight rebounds, stole the ball with two seconds left before launching the game's finals shot.

In a back and forth game at the Alexandria Basketball Stadium in Sydney, both AIA and the Sydney Kings relied heavily on their shooters to control the pace of the game. In the first half, Jason Holsinger of Evansville connected on four three-pointers and finished the half with 20 points. On the other end, Sydney's Ian Crosswhite was every bit as good with 21 points as the game went to the break even at 54.

Iowa State's Wes Johnson dominated the third period by scoring 10 of his 21 points as AIA jumped out to a six-point lead. With nine minutes to go in the game, AIA held an eleven point advantage at 94-83. Sydney then scored the next ten points of the game before Oregon's Ray Shafer ended the drought with a three-point play. Ian Crosswhite hit a pair of free throws with under two minutes to play to finally give Sydney the lead at 98-97. Texas A&M's Josh Carter came right back with a basket to give AIA the lead again, but Sydney managed four more points from the line in the final minute and a three pointer by BJ Carter to give them the margin they needed.

"Our team showed great improvement from last night's game," AIA head coach Eric Nelson said. "We just need to finish the deal on the boards and executing down the stretch.:

Holsinger lead AIA with 26 points while Johnson finished with 21 and 3 steals. Zeller added 14 points and 8 rebounds while Shafer tacked on another 13 points and 5 boards. Josh Carter finished with 15 points and 2 steals.

AIA will host clinics at two juvenile detention centers on Mon., Aug. 12 before traveling to Tasmania for a game on Tues., Aug. 14 versus the Tasmanian All-Stars. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. at the Aurora Sports Stadium in Newtown, Hobart.