Aiken Men's Basketball "Tips" Holmes at Buzzer

Femi Thompson's put-back basket on a second Aiken tip-in attempt just before the final buzzer sounded gave the Falcons a 72-71 come-from-behind victory over Holmes at Saturday's Bluegrass-Buckeye Charity Holiday Classic at Northern Kentucky University.

"He made a senior play," Aiken coach Leon Ellison said of Thompson's heroics.

Holmes, ranked fifth in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky basketball coaches' poll, led Aiken, which is tied for 10th in the Ohio poll, by three at halftime and by five after three quarters.

The Falcons (2-1) outscored the Bulldogs (2-1) 22-15 in the fourth quarter, with 14 of Thompson's 18 points coming in the final period.

Austin Grimes led Aiken with 25 points. Thompson tied it at 66-66 with 2:46 to play. Willie Moore, who finished with eight points, gave Aiken a two-point lead with 2:11 left.

Aiken hit a free throw and Jaleel Gray made a basket for Holmes to cut the Falcons' lead to 69-68.

Daquan Palmer made a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs with 9.2 seconds left to put Holmes ahead, 71-70.

Holmes coach Jason Booher called a timeout.

"Coming out of the timeout, I know a good team is going to get one shot with nine seconds left," the coach said. "So I told the team to give them just one shot. We gave them three, and the game on the second tip-in."

After the timeout, Aiken raced down court following the inbound pass and put up a shot and missed. The first put-back attempt failed. Thompson grabbed the rebound and banked in the winning shot.

"When I grabbed the ball, I tried to get it up as fast as I could," Thompson said. "And we got a win."

Charles Knox led Holmes with 18 points. Gray scored 15 and Dontel Rice added 13.