by Geoff Roberts/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Express men's and women's basketball teams will be back on the road Wednesday evening as they travel to Cleveland to take on Cuyahoga Community College in two crucial late-season Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) showdowns.
After clinching at least a share of the OCCAC title on Saturday night with a 75-62 home win over Columbus State, the No. 5 Express women would clinch the outright championship with a win against the Challengers on Wednesday. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Express utilized a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Challengers 87-51 at the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) on Jan. 15.
In that game, the Express struggled through a slow first half that saw them shoot only 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) from 3-point range. They turned it on late, going on an 8-1 run to take a 35-21 lead into the halftime.
Coming out of the half, it was all-Express from then on as the home team went on a 10-2 run. The dagger came later in the stanza when the Express closed the game with a 23-3 run that punctuated the home win.
The Express got double-digit scoring efforts from five players. Sophomore Paige Wright (Northrup/Fort Wayne, Ind.) led the way for the Express in that matchup with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Kamilah Carter (Pioneer/Ann Arbor, Mich.) added 14 points while Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) contributed a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Off the bench, the Express got 12 points each from freshmen Kheri Motley (West Bloomfield/West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Zhana Randolph (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.).
The Express have a 23-2 overall record and are 9-1 in OCCAC play. Cuyahoga goes into the matchup at 4-15 overall and 2-8 in the OCCAC.
Carter is averaging 20.3 PPG entering Wednesday's road match, good enough for third in the OCCAC. Tunstall is currently at seventh in the conference with 14.2 PPG. Eboni Adams (Maple Heights/Cleveland, Ohio) also appears in the top 10 conference scorers at 12.6 PPG.
With an average of nine rebounds per game, Tunstall sits at third in the conference. LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) checks in at 10th with sevem. Wright is averaging a conference best 6.3 assists/game with Carter and Adams also in the top 10.
Dereika Mahone was the centerpiece for Cuyahoga by leading all players on the court in the Jan. 15 matchup with 22 points while adding five boards, three steals and two assists.
No. 10 Express Men's Basketball Looks To Remain On Track For First Conference Title In 12 Years
The No. 10 Express men's team will also look to repeat the result from their game against Cuyahoga from Jan. 15 at the SHAC. The Express are in the midst of a quest to win at least a share of the OCCAC championship for the first time since 2001-02.
The Express stormed out of the gate, leading 24-7 through about the first eight minutes. Cuyahoga began to build some momentum behind Aaron Ashley and cut the lead significantly.
The Express led 38-29 with 3:34 to go. The Challengers answered to finish the half strongly on a 7-0 run to go into the break with only a 38-36 deficit. Ashley helped cut the Express lead to two by scoring 19 of the Challengers final 27 points in the half.
Ashley continued his fine effort in the second half, even giving the Challengers their first lead of the tilt with a 3-pointer at the 16:37 mark. The Express answered and would eventually walk away with the 83-65 win in the first game of OCCAC play.
Sophomore Andy Bachman (North Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) had one of his best performances of the season against the Challengers, netting 21 points, eight rebounds, one assist and one block. He came close to tying the school single-game records for most 3-point field goals made and attempted. At 6-for-12 (50 percent) he was just two short each for tying both records.
Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind.) got six offensive rebounds en route to a team-high 10 boards. Freshman Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) was the top distributor for the Express in the game with eight assists.
The Express were able to get that win without the help of the conference's top rebounder, Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension Of The Lord/Toronto, Ontario). The 6-8 big man is averaging a staggering 12.8 rebounds/game. Gill also holds the conference's top blocks/game spot (3.2 BLK/G), and is in the top 10 in steals/game in conference play.
Gill has also been a strong scorer for the Express. Averaging 17.8 PPG in conference play, he sits at fourth in the conference. Freshman John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) is third in the OCCAC in scoring (19.8 PPG). Aaron Ashley of Cuyahoga comes into Wednesday's game as the conference's second-best scorer (20.3 PPG).
Lindsey leads the conference in assists/game with 7.8.
The Express are currently 22-5 overall and 9-1 in OCCAC play. The Challengers stand at 7-17 overall and 4-6 in-conference.
Notes
The Express men's team need the road win as well as a win at Sinclair on Saturday to clinch a share of the OCCAC title, provided Cincinnati State wins against Lakeland on Saturday. With a Cincinnati State loss against Lakeland, the Express would need to win one of the final two games to share and winning both would give the Express the outright title.
With a win in one of the final two games for the Express women's team, they clinch an outright OCCAC title.
Gill had a milestone night in his final game at the SHAC this past Saturday. The Toronto native put himself in the record books with the most blocks in a single-season in school history after his six blocks gave him 59 on the season. He passed James Kelly's 58 block season in 2011-12.
Log on to OwensExpress.com tomorrow night, where we will post box scores immediately following each game. You can also follow Twitter (@owensexpress) for live game updates throughout the night, and we'll post recaps after the game at OwensExpress.com.
The doubleheader on Wednesday is the make-up doubleheader for the games that were postponed on Feb. 5 due to inclement weather.