By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Cleveland, Ohio---Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension of the Lord/Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) combined for 54 points to lead the No. 10 Express men's basketball team past Cuyahoga Community College 87-72 on the road tonight.

Cuyahoga opened strong, while the Express didn't start well, which led to Cuyahoga taking several early leads. The latest lead came with 12:30 left in the half when Gary Burn's jumper put his team up 15-13. Later in the half, Brun hit another jumper to tie the game at 20-all with 9:09 left before the Express took control.

Tony Boykins (Loy Norrix/Kalamazoo, Mich.) hit a jumper and Andy Bachman (North Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit a 3-pointer to put the Express up 25-20 and they wouldn't trail again.

The Express held a 29-27 lead with 4:55 left in the half, but jumped on Cuyahoga with a 10-0 run take a 12 point lead with 2:43 left. The run ended with a 3-pointer from Gill, and the Express would never lead by less than 10 the rest of the way.

In the half's final seconds, Gill grabbed a defensive rebound and threw an outlet pass to Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio), who hit a buzzer beating lay-up to give the Express a 45-31 lead at halftime.

The Express turned a see saw second half into a 72-51 lead with 8:36 remaining. Cuyahoga didn't lay down, though, and made a 12-4 run to trim their deficit to 13 with 5:40 remaining.

Gill and Murry combined for 10 points in the final five minutes to seal the game.

Gill finished 11-for-16 from the field, 1-for-2 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 from the foul line for totals of 29 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and one steal.

Murry, meanwhile, had 26 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. He primarily scored his points in a much different way than Gill, however. The freshman guard finished 15-for-17 from the foul line. He started 13-for-13 from the line before missing two, which also ended his chance at tying the single game free throw percentage record.

Bachman was the third and final player in double figures for the Express as the sophomore finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and one block. He finished 4-for-7 from the field, including a 3-for-6 mark from 3-point range.

As a team, the Express finished 25-for-30 from the foul line. Murry, Gill and Bachman combined to shoot 23-for-26 from the line.

Brun led Cuyahoga with 33 points, 15 rebounds, three steals, three blocks and one assist. He was 14-for-28 from the field, 1-for-3 from 3-point range and 4-for-6 from the foul line. Mandell Randshaw added 19 points for Cuyahoga.

With the win, the Express (23-5, 10-1 OCCAC) moved into a first place tie with No. 1 Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) standings. Each team has one game remaining Saturday. With a win on the road over Sinclair Community College at 4 p.m., the Express would clinch an OCCAC championship for the first time since 2001-02.

Notes

Gill now has nine double-doubles in OCCAC play, including two in a row and six of the past seven. He leads the OCCAC in rebounding and blocked shots, and sits in the top four in scoring.

Murry is now averaging 27 points over his past two games. He has four games of 26 or more points in his last six contests.