By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Derrik Jamerson Jr. (Cornerstone/Pontiac, Mich.) scored 25 points as the Owens Community College men's basketball team picked up an 88-83 win over Sinclair Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) today.
With the win, Owens is now 18-7 overall and 8-3 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. Sinclair falls to 18-7 overall and 6-6 in OCCAC play. With the outcome, Owens strengthened its hold on third place in the conference over Sinclair, which will be important for postseason seeding.
After building an 18-point lead with just under six minutes left in the first half, Owens saw Sinclair chip away and eventually pull within one with 2:44 left in the game on a layup from Akiean Frederick. On the ensuing three possessions, Jamerson, Frederick and Roy Hatchett Jr. (Glenville/Cleveland, Ohio) traded 3-pointers as Owens led 81-77 with just over a minute left.
Two possessions later, Owens pushed its lead to five following a pair of Shondell Jackson (Warren Harding/Warren, Ohio) free throws. Frederick, who scored 11 points in the final five minutes, answered with another 3-pointer to pull his team within two.
Down the stretch, though, Marquevious Wilson (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) made 5-for-6 from the foul line, while Frederick missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 13 seconds left as Owens pulled out the victory.
Frederick scored 18 of his game-high 31 points in the second half. LiDonta Hicks-Gentry added 19 points and a game-high 19 rebounds for Sinclair, while Jaquan Harrison had 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Dwayne Chastain led all players with 13 assists, as well.
For Owens, Jamerson opened the game 4-for-4 from 3-point range en route to finishing 9-for-15 from the field (7-for-13 from 3-point range). He added a team-high four steals. Wilson finished with 20 points, a team-high seven rebounds and four assists. Hatchett added 11 points and a team-high seven assists.
Off the bench, Mason Durden (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) added nine key points on 3-for-3 shooting. He also made both of his free throw attempts, and he is now 21-for-34 from the field over his past eight games. Stafford also contributed nine points and seven rebounds.
Owens built a 19-6 lead over the game's first five minutes as the team opened 7-for-9 from the field. Despite going scoreless over a two-minute stretch moments later, Owens got seven straight points from Wilson, a jumper from Derek Reece Jr. (Springfield/Holland, Ohio) and a pair of free throws from Jackson to take the 41-23 lead with 5:39 left in the half.
Sinclair responded with a 9-2 run behind the play of Hicks-Gentry and Harrison. Following another jumper from Reece, Sinclair closed the half on an 8-2 run behind six points from Frederick to pull within seven.
Owens never relinquished its lead in the second half, but it wasn't easy. Wilson hit a 3-pointer with 15:36 left to give his team its first of two 10-point leads, and then Stafford's fast break dunk gave pushed it to 70-55 with 11:09 left. Sinclair, however, responded with an 8-0 run to set up the tight finish.
Owens will be back in action on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. road matchup at Edison Community College, where they will once again meet former Owens guard Dae'Shawn Jackson, who played for the Express last year.
NOTES
Jamerson now has four games with at least 22 points over the past eight games. He is averaging 23 PPG over the past six contests. He is 25-for-43 from 3-point range over the past three games. Today, he eclipsed 200 career 3-pointers made and is now 202-for-447. Furthermore, he needs 14 more made 3-pointers to break the program's single season record.
Wilson is now averaging 15.6 PPG, five rebounds and four assists over the past seven contests. He has shot over 50 percent from the field in five of those seven games.
Another former Owens player, Frederick, who redshirted the 2014-15 season with Owens before transferring to Sinclair, reached 1,000 career points in today's game. Owens awarded him the game ball following the conclusion of the game.