By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) scored a season-high 30 points, while Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension of the Lord/Toronto, Ontario, Canada) nearly had a triple-double as the Express men's basketball team upset No. 3 Cincinnati State Technical and Community College 92-86 in the SHAC today.

The Surge came into the game leading the nation in scoring. They had topped 100 points nine times previously this year and had notched 116 or more points in three straight games coming in.

Similar to the women's game just prior, the Express saw themselves down early, but fought back. The No. 3 Surge amped up the pressure defensively, early and often, leading to eight Express turnovers in the game's first seven and a half minutes.

During that stretch, the Surge built a 10 point cushion, leading 22-12 with 12:38 left in the first half. The Express battled back, but never seemed to trim the deficit until anything less than eight or nine points until John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) scored seven straight points for his team, cutting the deficit to four with 16 seconds left in the half.

The Surge, however, scored on a lay-up from Chrisean Marsden just before the buzzer and took a 44-38 lead into the break.

The second half would eventually belong to the Express. They cut the deficit to 48-46, capped by a dunk from Gill and trailed only two with 16:01 left. They got sloppy, however, and allowed the Surge to take a 53-46 lead with 15:01 left. 

Just after his team took that lead, the Surge's Lorenzen Wright Jr. was hit with a technical. Lindsey made both free throws and started a 10-2 run that gave the Express a 56-55 lead with 12:44 left. During that run, Lindsey scored eight points and six of them came from the foul line.

Winston Grays answered for the Surge by scoring 10 straight points for his team, which put the Express down 65-60 with 10:49 left.

The Express answered with 13 straight points and eventually went on a 16-2 run that saw them take a 76-67 lead with 6:38 left. During that run, Markese Allen's (Crockett/Detroit, Mich.) 3-pointer gave the Express the lead for good at 67-65 with 9:15 remaining. 

The Surge got as close as 85-80 with 1:57 left following a 3-pointer from Grays, but the Express finished 5-for-6 from the foul line down the stretch to seal it.

Lindsey finished 12-for-12 from the foul line, which ties the program record for individual, single game free throw percentage. He totaled 30 points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 28 minutes. He finished 8-for-10 from the field, including a 2-for-4 finish from the 3-point line.

Gill, meanwhile, tied the single game record for blocks with eight, while adding a season-high 22 points, a team-high 14 rebounds and one steal. He finished 7-for-11 from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line. 

As a team, the Express also broke the single game record for free throw percentage as they finished 31-for-34 (91.2 percent) . The old mark of 90 percent was set on Dec. 23, 1966 against Lake Superior State and tied on Feb. 13, 1991 against Edison Community College. 

Aside from Lindsey and Gill, Murry rounded out an impressive "Big Three" performance with 16 points, four rebounds and one assist.

The trio totaled 68 points, 22 rebounds, nine blocks, four assists and two steals. Lindsey and Gill combined to shoot 15-for-21 from the field and 20-for-22 from the foul line.

Grays led the Surge with 26 points (21 in the second half), while Marsden added 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. In fact, Grays had exactly half of his team's 42 second half points. 

One of the big differences in the game came at the foul line as the Surge finished just 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) - opposed to the aformentioned record breaking day at the foul line for the Express. Another difference was that the Express only turned the ball over eight times in the game's final 32:36.

The Express are now 15-4 overall and 2-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will have a tough matchup on the road against Lakeland Community College on Wednesday beginning at 7:30 p.m. Both teams are tied at 2-0 atop the OCCAC standings.

The Surge fall to 16-3 overall and 2-1 in OCCAC play with the loss.

Notes

Gill picked up his fourth double-double of the season today. He topped his previous season-high in scoring by one point, which came against Erie Community College earlier this year.

Lindsey, who had totaled seven points on 0-for-10 shooting in his past two games, doubled his previous season-high scoring total of 15 on Dec. 14 against Kellogg Community College. It was his ninth game this season of scoring in double digits.

While Lindsey has struggled from the field coming into the game, he was 12-for-13 from the foul line over the past three games prior to today. He is now 24-for-25 in the past four games and is shooting a team best 82.5 percent from the line this year.

Murry, who struggled from the field today (4-for-17), still picked up his 18th game of double digit scoring in the team's first 19 games.

Dating back to the 2011-12 season, the Express have won five of six against Cincinnati State.