By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College men's basketball team defeated Edison Community College 107-75 in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) today behind a balanced scoring effort.
Pete Firlik (Catholic Central/Grand Rapids, Mich.) led Owens with 15 points followed by Austin Somerfield (Greenville/Greenville, Mich.) and Darren Groves (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio), who scored 14 points each.
Owens started to take control of the game after just 14 seconds when John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) made a 3-pointer to give the Express the early lead. Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Oh.) extended that lead to 6-0 with another 3-pointer after 48 seconds. Owens didn't give up a basket for the first two minutes and 45 seconds of the game, and didn't allow an Edison field goal in a half-court set until 14:15 remained in the half.
After Edison scored its first points, Owens went on a 20-2 run to take a 29-4 lead with 13:07 remaining in the half. During this run, Groves had six points, Firlik had five and Somerfield had four. The only points for Edison during that run came via a dunk by Malik Thurman.
After allowing only four points in the first seven minutes of play, the Express finished the first half with a 72-39 lead.
In the second half, Owens substituted often and emptied its bench, leading to a 36-35 advantage for Edison in the half. Eight different players scored for Owens in the final 20 minutes.
Thurman and Cody May each had double-doubles for Edison. Thurman went 11-for-23 from the field for a game-high 25 points, along with 12 rebounds. May added 21 points and 11 rebounds on 8-for-16 shooting. Nick Fischer and Amaal Brown each added nine points off the bench.
For Owens, everyone scored and five players notched double-figures. Aside from Firlik, Somerfield and Groves, Early Jr. added 11 and Murry had 10. Nate Harris (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio) saw extended playing time off the bench and had eight points and a team-high nine rebounds in 20 minutes. He also tied Early Jr. for the team-high in steals with three.
Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) had a game-high seven assists for Owens, while Firlik scored his 15 points in 15 minutes.
Owens improves to 15-4 overall and 3-0 in OCCAC play. They will travel to Lakeland Community College on Wednesday for a pivotal matchup early in the conference season. Lakeland is averaging 106 points per game over their past three contests and are tied with Owens at 3-0 atop the OCCAC standings.
Tobias Flemming contributed to this story