By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College men's basketball team got buzzer beating shots from Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) and Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind.) to come back and stun Cuyahoga Community College 90-88 in overtime tonight.
Owens trailed Cuyahoga 78-71 with just under two and a half minutes remaining in regulation. However, Jones got a comeback started when he blocked a lay-up attempt by Cuyahoga, which led to an Austin Somerfield (Greenville/Greenville, Mich.) lay-up at the other end. Following another missed lay-up from Cuyahoga, John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) converted a fast break lay-up to trim the deficit to three.
However, Cuyahoga sprinted back and stretched the lead back up to five with a lay-up. Pete Firlik (Catholic Central/Grand Rapids, Mich.) responded for Owens with a 3-pointer to pull Owens within two with 1:22 left.
Cairo Brown missed the front end of a one and one for Cuyahoga, and Lindsey missed a reverse lay-up that could have tied it with 36 seconds left. Brown went to the line again and made one of two as Cuyahoga led by three with 25 seconds left. Murry missed a 3-pointer on the other end, and Cuyahoga threw an outlet pass for a dunk and a five point lead.
It wasn't over, though, as Murry got another fast break lay-up. With five seconds left, Cuyahoga missed the front end of a one and one to give Owens a chance to tie, which they did when Firlik rebounded the miss and passed to Lindsey, who took the ball up the court and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
In overtime, the teams traded baskets until less than a minute remained. With the game tied at 88, the Owens defense stepped up and forced a shot clock violation with 38 seconds left. On the other end, Somerfield's attempt at a game-winner was tied up with one second left on the shot clock. Owens had the arrow, though, and Firlik passed to Jones, who hit a mid-range jumper from the right corner on an out of bounds play with 3.2 seconds left.
Brown missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer for Cuyahoga.
Murry led Owens with 19 points, while Lindsey had 18 points and a game-high 12 assists. Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) added 13, Jones had 12 and Somerfield finished with 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Jones also had eight rebounds and two crucial blocks.
Cuyahoga was led by Robert Fomby, who totaled game-highs in points (29), rebounds (11) and steals (3). Conor Mabry added 15 off the bench on a perfect 6-for-6 performance from the field. Brown was the team's third player in double figures. He had 14 points and a team-high six assists.
Both teams shot 50 percent or better from the field, while Cuyahoga out-rebounded Owens 40-32. Brown briefly left the game in the second half due to an injury, but returned for the stretch run and overtime.
Lindsey was 1-for-5 from 3-point range until his game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation. He finished a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line, though.
In fact, free throws played a key role in the game's outcome as Cuyahoga finished just 13-for-22 (59.1 percent) from the line, while Owens was 18-for-24 (75 percent).
Owens is now 14-4 this year and 2-0 in OCCAC play. They will host Edison Community College at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the SHAC.
Cuyahoga, meanwhile, falls to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in OCCAC play. They will get their shot at revenge on Feb. 4 against Owens at their place.