By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Roscommon, MI---Despite the effort of James Kelly (Pioneer/Ann Arbor, Mich.), the Express couldn't stop a second half surge from Kirtland Community College in a 70-68 overtime loss Friday night.

Kelly had 25 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and one block. His totals helped the Express take a 36-19 lead into the half. However, after the Express stretched their lead to 22 with 15:46 remaining, Kirtland started chipping away. Down 46-24 at that point, Kirtland outscored Owens 40-18 to force overtime.

The Express had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but they missed two shots in the final seconds. They also missed a final shot that would have tied it to end the game.

Three Firebirds keyed the comeback as John Edwards finished with 22 points, Dwayne Thurmond had 21, and Stavros Schizas had 20. Thurmond and Edwards played all 45 minutes, while Schizas played 43. Kirtland only had two other players register points as Artem Moskin added four and Oleg Donetskiy had three.

Aside from Kelly, Jeff Burroughs (Belleville/Ypsilanti, Mich.) had a solid game as he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Franklin Lindsey (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) had six points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Kelly and Justin Edmonds (Albion/Albion, Mich.) entered the game as the top two scorers for the Express. Edmonds, however, struggled with his shot most of the game and finished with eight points on 2-for-17 shooting from the field including an 0-for-7 performance from three point range. He went 4-for-5 from the foul line, but the one miss came on the front end of a one and one late in the game.

Owens dominated most statistical categories as they shot a better percentage from the field (41.4 percent to 39 percent), had more rebounds (47 to 34), more assists (15 to 11), more points in the paint (42 to 26), more second chance points (14 to 6), and more bench points (16 to 3). However, Kirtland made more 3-pointers (7 to 4), while also making more free throws (6-for-10 for Owens compared to 17-for-26 for Kirtland).

Kirtland is now 9-1 this year, while Owens falls to 12-5. The next action for the Express will be against No. 4 Columbus State Community College on at 3 p.m. Friday in the SHAC. The game will mark the beginning of Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play.