By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Flint, Mich.---An 18-0 run midway through the first half spelled doom for the Express men's basketball team in a 97-62 loss to No. 7 Mott Community College on the road tonight.

The Express trailed 7-2 early, but battled back and took a 17-14 lead with 13:35 left in the half following a jumper in the paint from John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.). However, Mott scored 18 straight to seize a 15 point lead with 8:28 remaining.

During that run, Mott shot 8-for-12 from the field and three of those misses came on one possession. The third miss was grabbed on the offensive glass and converted into a mid-range jumper. They scored on every possession during that stretch, except one that ended in a turnover.

On the other end, the Express shot 0-for-6 from the field, 0-for-1 from the foul line and committed three turnovers during that five minute stretch.

Mott later led by as many as 21 with 1:11 left in the half before the Express closed on a 5-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer and a lay-up from Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.), who had a team-high 12 points in the first half.

After a bucket by Devin Foster, Mott's William Abbott produced back-to-back-to-back dunks to open the second half and give his team a 22 point lead. In fact, after an Andy Bachman (North Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) lay-up pulled the Express within 52-36 less than a minute into the second half, Abbott's dunks started a 12-3 run that gave Mott a 64-39 lead with just under 15 minutes left.

The closest the Express got the rest of the way was 20, while Mott stretched their lead to as many as 38 in the closing minutes of the game.

The Express, who fell to 12-4 overall with the loss, were led by Murry's 16 points, three rebounds, two blocks and one steal, while Lindsey finished with 12 points, two assists and one rebound. Tony Boykins (Loy Norrix/Kalamazoo, Mich.) added 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and one block.

DeVondre Peoples (Consortium/Detroit, Mich.) led the Express in rebounds with seven (all off the bench), while also adding seven points. Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) had a team-high three assists, while Bachman and Martez Asberry (Douglas Academy/Detroit, Mich.) each had a team-high two steals. Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension of the Lord/Toronto, Ontario, Canada) had a team-high three blocks.

Mott was led in scoring by Malik Albert, who had a game-high 20, while Myles Busby (18), Devin Foster (17), Lorenzo Collier (12) and Abbott (10) also chipped in. Albert added nine steals, eight assists, five rebounds and one block. He either led or tied for the team-high in all of those categories as Mott produced eight players with at least four rebounds.

The Express bench was outscored 27-12, while Mott also held advantages in points off turnovers (23-9), second chance points (23-5), points in the paint (56-30) and turnovers (8-21). Mott shot 39-for-77 (50.6 percent) from the field overall, while the Express finished 20-for-50 (40 percent).

The Express will be back in action on Jan. 7 against Mid-Michigan Community College at 7:30 p.m. in the SHAC. Mott improved to 9-2 with the win.