By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Derrik Jamerson (Cornerstone/Pontiac, Mich.) poured in a game-high 26 points, and Roy Hatchett Jr. (Glenville/Cleveland, Ohio) had a double-double, as the Owens Community College men's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit to pick up an 83-74 win over Edison State Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.
With the win, Owens improved to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will be back in action on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the SHAC against Clark State Community College. Edison fell to 10-5 overall and 1-4 in OCCAC play.
Dae'Shawn Jackson, who played for Owens last year before transferring to Edison, scored six points early to give his team a 17-4 lead over the game's first five minutes. He then added a layup with 13:39 left to push his team's lead to 14, the largest of the game.
Jamerson, who scored eight of his team's first 10 points, responded with his second 3-pointer of the game to spur a 7-0 run. Following an Edison basket from Hadith Tiggs, Owens scored the next six points, anchored by a pair of layups from Rico Stafford (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) to complete a 13-2 run and pull within three.
A layup from Marquevious Wilson (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) pulled Owens back within three with 7:18 left in the half, but Edison went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes. Back-to-back layups from Jamerson and Stafford, however, followed by a 3-pointer from Wilson, gave Owens its own 7-0 run in response.
Moments later, Mason Durden (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) grabbed a steal, started a fast break and lobbed a pass off the backboard to start a game-tying alley-oop dunk for Stafford. Edison's Zach Ledbetter hit a jumper to break the tie, but Durden answered with a 3-pointer to give Owens its first lead since Jamerson's game-opening jumper.
Edison took a 39-38 lead into the break on Dusty Poteet's tip-in at the buzzer.
The two teams went back-and-forth over the first four minutes of the second half before back-to-back layups from Stafford spurred a 7-0 run. Durden capped the run with a three-point play to give Owens a 49-45 lead. From there, his team never trailed again.
Edison was able to tie it moments later, by Jamerson hit a layup and James Grays (Start/Toledo, Ohio) made a jumper to push the lead back to four. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Jamerson and Durden, along with a layup from Grays, then pushed the lead to eight with 8:55 left.
Once again, Edison responded by scoring the next six points to pull within two, but Jamerson made three of his next four 3-point attempts over the next two minutes to push the lead to nine.
Poteet drove the lane for a two-handed dunk with 2:03 left, and Tiggs completed a three-point play to pull Edison within five, but Hatchett and Durden combined to make 6-for-6 rom the foul line down the stretch to seal the game.
Jamerson finished 10-for-15 from the field, including a 6-for-8 finish from 3-point range, and finished with 26 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Stafford went 7-for-9 from the field to finish second on the team with 14 points, while adding a team-high seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Durden chipped in a season-high 13 points along with three steals, three assists and two rebounds, while Hatchett added 12 points, 10 assists and four rebounds.
Tiggs (21), Jackson (19) and Poteet (11) each reached double figures for Edison, while Poteet added 10 rebounds and two blocks. Jackson also had seven rebounds and five assists against his former team.
Due in large part to Jamerson, Owens finished 11-for-20 as a team from 3-point range. They also made 10-for-11 from the foul line and 31-for-63 (49.2 percent) overall from the field. Edison was hurt by a 3-for-24 performance from 3-point range.
NOTES
The two teams will meet again on Feb. 15 in Piqua, Ohio.
Jamerson, who eclipsed 700 career points tonight and now sits at 715, also inched closer to breaking the program's career 3-point field goal made and attempted records. He needs nine more makes and 16 more attempts to capture each.
Hatchett recorded his third double-double of points and assists of the season. He has five or more assists in all but one game this year.
Durden's previous season-high in scoring was eight against Jackson.
Stafford recorded his 12th game of at least 50 percent shooting from the field.