By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, OH---James Kelly (Pioneer/Ann Arbor, Mich.) engineered the Owens Express men's basketball team to an 87-77 win over Grand Rapids Community College in the SHAC Friday night.

With the win, the Express (10-4) has now matched their win total from all of last season under first-year head coach Dave Clarke. They also complete the season sweep of Grand Rapids after having defeated them on Nov. 18.

Kelly, a freshman forward, started the game strong as he had six points and four rebounds less than three minutes in. He opened the game with a dunk and made the first three shots for the Express while finishing with 22 points, 16 rebounds (seven offensive), two steals, one block and one assist in 25 minutes. For the season, he is now averaging 19.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

Taronta Cole (Gulfport/Gulfport, Miss.) had a season-high 12 points for the Express, while Justin Edmonds (Albion/Albion, Mich.) and Jeff Burroughs (Belleville/Ypsilanti, Mich) each had 11 points. Edmonds also added six rebounds and six assists.

Grand Rapids started the game strong offensively as they led 15-6 and 24-15, with the second nine point lead coming at the 8:59 mark. With 6:54 remaining in the first half, however, the Express had tied it at 25 and finished the half on a 10-6 run to take a 35-31 lead into the break.

Owens kept the rally going in the second half as they held a double figure lead most of the half. At the 5:16 mark, they stretched the lead to the largest of the game with a 72-56 advantage. Grand Rapids rallied, however, and trimmed the lead to three with 1:09 remaining at 78-75. However, Cole hit a three from the left corner to stretch the lead back to six before Owens hit six of six free throws in the final minute to seal the game.

Kelly finished 9-for-15 from the field overall and 4-for-6 from the foul line. All of Cole's points came from three point range as he finished 4-for-8 from long distance and 4-for-9 overall. Burroughs went 6-for-6 from the foul line and he was 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute of the game.

Jordan Basinger (Kalida/Kalida, Ohio) came up big off the bench in his first collegiate action as he finished with eight points, seven rebounds and one steal in 13 minutes of action. The sophomore forward, who is also a baseball player for the Express, joined the team a little over a week ago.

Kelvin Clark (Bogan/Chicago, Ill.) also had a strong game off the bench as he had seven points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

Roy Jackson led the Raiders with 20 points, while T.J. McCutcheon finished with 15 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Tyler Krim also finished in double figures with 13, while Owens held Alex Lyle, the leading scorer for Grand Rapids, to only eight points. He was averaging over 23 points per game coming in. The Raiders are now 5-5 this season.

As a team, the Express shot 18-for-24 from the foul line. They finished 30-for-64 from the field overall and 9-for-23 from long distance. Grand Rapids finished 27-for-65 overall, 10-for-21 from three point range and 13-for-22 from the foul line.

Owens held a strong advantage on the glass (47 to 30) thanks to Kelly - including a 12 to 8 advantage on the offensive end. Grand Rapids had two more steals (9 to 7) and had less turnovers (14 to 17), but the Express held advantages in assists (18 to 15), blocks (9 to 0), bench points (27 to 16), and points in the paint (36 to 22). Each team had 20 personal fouls.

While the Express only turned the ball over four times in the second half, the also shot lights out. In the second half, Owens finished 18-for-32 (56.3 percent) from the field, 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from three point range and 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the foul line.