By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Kenny Jones (Clay/South Bend, Ind.) paced the No. 19 Owens Community College men's basketball team with 20 points in a 117-78 win over Sinclair Community College in the SHAC today.
Jones finished 8-for-12 from the field and added six rebounds as Owens picked up its second straight win and fourth over the past five games.
Owens led almost the entire game with the only lead for Sinclair came on a layup from Westley Parr to make it 4-3 just over two minutes into the game. Moments later, a 12-0 run by Owens broke open a tie game and gave them an 18-6 lead with 13:20 left in the half.
Sinclair rallied behind a strong first half performance from Parr to trim their deficit to as few as four with 8:10 left in the half, but Owens went on a 16-2 run at that point and eventually took a 52-34 lead into the break.
In the second half, Owens came out on fire offensively. They scored 18 points in just over the first four minutes of the half to take a 70-39 lead and led by 30 plus for much of the seond half. Shaakir Lindsey's (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Owens a 39 point lead in the final minute, and it proved to be the game's final basket.
As a team, Owens finished just one made 3-point field goal away from tying the single game record. They finished 16-for-36 (44.4 percent) from long range, and they shot 45-for-84 (53.6 percent) overall. In the second half alone, Owens shot 26-for-45 (57.8 percent) from the field, including a 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) mark from long range.
Aside from Jones, four other players scored in double figures for Owens. Austin Somerfield (Greenville/Greenville, Mich.) added 15, Justin Baker (Cathedral/Indianapolis, Ind.) and Lindsey each had 14, and CJ Bussey (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio) chipped in 13.
Jones, John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) and Darren Groves (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) each had a team-high six rebounds, while Lindsey (6) and Baker (5) led the team in assists. Cameron White (Bowsher/Toledo, Ohio) had a team-high four steals.
For Jones, today marked his third 20 plus point game over his past five games. He is averaging 17.6 points during that stretch.
Bussey's 13 points marked a season-high, and it was his fifth game in double digit scoring this year. Somerfield also set a new season-high as the sophomore forward picked up his seventh double digit scoring game of the season. Baker finished two short of his season-high, and he is averaging 15 points over the past two games. Lindsey's 4-for-6 finish from 3-point range increased his season percentage to 50 percent (40-for-80).
Today's game also marked the 11th game this year Owens has reached the century mark.
Parr led all scorers with 25 for Sinclair, while pulling down six rebounds. He was assisted by Conner Myslowski, who had 13, and Manny Powell Jr., who added 12 points and a team-high eight assists. Jalen Robertson had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Owens is now 19-6 overall and 7-2 in OCCAC play. They will get a rematch against No. 12 Lakeland Community College at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the SHAC. It was Lakeland who handed Owens a 103-95 loss on Jan. 21, which marked the first league loss of the season.
Sinclair fell to 13-11 overall and 3-7 in OCCAC play with the loss.