By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Flint, Mich.---Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) scored six points in overtime to lead the No. 16 Owens Community College men's basketball team past No. 8 Mott Community College 94-87 on the road tonight.
A back-and-forth first half saw Mott pull away late to take a 46-38 lead into the break. They continued their run to open the second half and took a 52-40 lead with 17:47 left.
Following a timeout, Pete Firlik (Catholic Central/Grand Rapids, Mich.) hit a 3-pointer to start an 18-6 run, which was capped by a Cameron White (Bowsher/Toledo, Ohio) jumper in the paint to tie the game at 58-all with 12:12 left.
The next few minutes saw the teams go back and forth until Mott's Rod Milton and Justice Green made back-to-back shots to give their team a 72-67 lead with 7:31 left.
Owens answered right away, however, with a Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind.), lay-up, a Darren Groves (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) to tie the game at 74-all.
The two teams would tie up twice more at 76-all and 78-all before Mott took an 81-80 lead with 2:11 left on a Malik Young jumper. Lindsey answered on the other end with a 3-pointer from straightaway for a two point lead. Mott's Daryl Bigham hit two free throws to tie the game once again, though, with 1:37 left.
After a steal by CJ Bussey (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio) and a timeout, Bussey missed a corner 3-pointer that could have given Owens the lead with less than 30 seconds left. Mott then had two shots blocked, one by Groves with five seconds left and the the second by Jones at the buzzer to send the gave to overtime.
In the extra session, Owens got a free throw from Groves and a mid-range jumper from Lindsey to open with a three point lead. Mott's Darryl LaVert answered with a jumper, but Lindsey made a lay-up to stretch it back to three. Lavert responded with a jumper, but so did Lindsey and Owens led 90-87 with 1:33 remaining.
After Mott's Green missed a jumper, Murry drilled the dagger with a 3-pointer off an assist from Groves with 50 seconds left. Mott's Austin Daniels missed a 3-pointer on the other end, Jones grabbed the rebound and hit one of two at the foul line for the final margin.
Lindsey finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including a 3-for-4 mark from 3-point range and a 5-for-5 finish from the foul line. Five others reached double figures for Owens including Murry (15), Groves (12), Jones (10), Firlik (10) and Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) with 10.
Groves added a game-high 10 rebounds, along with two blocks. Lindsey had a game-high nine assists.
For Mott, Bigham had 25 points and nine rebounds, followed by Young (15), Green (13), LaVert (13) and Milton (10).
Both teams shot over 52 percent from the field, with Owens achieving a 57.6 finish on 34-for-59 shooting. They also shot 10-for-20 from 3-point range.
Owens finishes their non-conference schedule at 12-4 overall. They will open conference play Jan. 10 on the road against Sinclair Community College at 4 p.m.
Notes
Tonight's OT win was the second extra session victory for Owens over Mott this year. They defeated them in double OT earlier this season.