By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---The No. 16 Owens Community College men's basketball team had five players reach double figures in a 111-89 upset of No. 10 Lakeland Community College in the SHAC tonight.

With the win, Owens avenged a 103-95 loss earlier this year to Lakeland on the road, but Lakeland (18-6, 9-1 OCCAC) remains one game ahead of Owens (20-6, 8-2 OCCAC) in the conference standings with four games remaining.

A pair of former high school teammates led the Owens charge tonight. Darren Groves (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) had one of his best games of the season with a game-high 23 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block, while Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) had a career-high 21 points, along with two assists. The duo finished 17-for-27 from the field and 8-for-11 from 3-point range. Groves was dialed in as he only missed one shot all game.

Both of those players came off the bench, while Pete Firlik (Catholic Central/Grand Rapids, Mich.) and John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) each added 15 points from the starting lineup. Murry added a team-high seven assists and six rebounds, while Firlik also had five rebounds.

Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) added 13 points, six assists and five rebounds of the bench. 

For Lakeland, Montell Goodwin had a team-high 20 points, while adding nine rebounds, four steals and three assists. Rasheed Howard (19), Mike Davis (16), Kenneth Evans (15) and Cristen Wilson (12) also reached double figures as the team finished 34-for-67 (50.7 percent) from the field. However, they struggled from long range en route to a 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) finish, while only making 19-for-32 (59.4 percent) from the foul line.

As a team, Owens had 29 assists on 43 field goals made. They shot 43-for-77 (55.8 percent) from the field and 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from 3-point range, while out-rebounding Lakeland 47-34 overall and 10-6 on the offensive glass. Each team had 14 turnovers.

Early on, Lakeland jumped out a 22-14 lead with 13:09 left in the half. After a timeout, though, Owens responded with nine straight points on 3-pointers from Groves, Murry and Dilyn Good (Springfield/Holland, Ohio) to take the one point lead.

With 7:29 left, Lakeland led 30-28, but Firlik was fouled attempting a 3-pointer. He made all three and Owens never trailed again. The end of the half saw some excitement as Lindsey drilled a 3-pointer with a few seconds left, but Goodwin responded with a 75-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to keep his team within six.

With 16:13 left the second half, Davis hit a pair of free throws to pull Lakeland within three, and his head coach, Terry Bowe, called a timeout following the second shot. However, it was Owens that took advantage of the break as they went on a 7-0 run out of the timeout to take a 10 point lead.

A short time later, a Goodwin layup pulled Lakeland within nine with 13:08 left, but a 12-0 Owens run made it 85-64 with 9:52 remaining.

At that point, Lakeland called another timeout, which led to a 7-0 run and a 15-point deficit. However, that was as close as the game would get with Owens leading by as many as 23 down the stretch.

In the second half alone, Owens finished 25-for-38 (65.8 percent) overall from the field and 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from 3-point range. On the flip side, Lakeland was 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the second half, but held a strong advantage at the foul line (14-for-21 compared to 3-for-7).

With tonight's win, Owens picked up his fourth straight season with at least 20 or more wins under the direction of fourth-year head coach Dave Clarke. It is the 28th time in program history the team has won at least 20. More importantly, the team pulled within one game of Lakeland for the league's top spot.

Owens will travel to Edison Community College for a 3 p.m. tilt on Saturday. It will be the final regular season road game for Owens.

Notes

Clarke now sits at 95 career wins in three plus years at Owens. His career record is 95-30. He also improved to 6-4 against one of his conference rivals, Bowe and Lakeland.

Murry sits 19 points away from 1,000 in his career after his 15-point performance tonight. Since he didn't attempt a free throw tonight, he still sits at five free throws made and 20 free throws attempted of breaking the program's career marks in each category.

Early Jr.'s previous career-high was 19 against Jackson on Dec. 17 of this season. After missing two games on Jan. 31 and Feb. 4, he had eight combined points in the team's previous two games before his career best game tonight.

As a team, Owens has now reached 100 or more points 12 times this year and 90 or more points in 19 games. They increased their season scoring average to 94.4 per game.