By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- After securing a three point lead at halftime. the Owens Men's Basketball team could not hold a lead against Bryant & Stratton, as the Bobcats' De'Sean Reed scored 24 of his game high 31 points in the second half to lead his team to victory.
Both teams got off to a slow start as there were just ten total points scored over the first five minutes of the game, but the Express would kick it into gear at the midway point in the first half. Owens trailed 19-18 before a DiMarius Hill layup gave the Express a one point lead at 20-19. The Bobcats would retake the lead a possession later, but a Jordan Gray three gave the Express a two point cushion with 8:25 to play in the first half. The Express would go on a 10-1 run over the next three and half minutes, taking a 33-22 lead with five minutes to go before the break.
The Bobcats would answer back with a run of their own. going on a 12-2 run to climb within a point with 1:27 to play in the first half. The two teams would trade buckets before Aamir Solomon capped the scoring for the Express with a layup with 1.2 seconds left to give Owens a 39-36 advantage heading to the locker room.
The second half, though, belonged to Bryant & Stratton's De'Sean Reed. Reed would score all but 17 of the Bobcats' second half points, using his inside and outside game to flummox the Express defense. Owens would hang tough over the first half of the second, but anytime the Express would get some momentum going, Reed had the answer.
The Express would trail by ten points with a little over five minutes to play in the game, but Owens would close the gap to four after a six point swing from Jordan Grayson. Grayson would make a layup and get fouled for the old fashioned three point play, and on the next Owens possession, he would bury a three from the right corner to make the score 64-60.
That was the closest the Express would get. The Bobcats would finish the game on a 13-7 run, and they would win the game 77-67.
Four Express players would finish in double figures scoring wise. Grayson would lead Owens with 18 points on 6-9 shooting, including 5-8 from beyond the arc. DiMarius Hill would finish with 15 points over 30 minutes of play, and Ka'von Gainer would finish with 10 points, after shooting 50% from the floor. Sharif Saleem would finish with a double-double, his sixth of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
As a team, the Express shot a shade above 40% (28-69) from the floor for the game while the Bobcats shot 45.2% (28-62).
Owens falls to 2-25 overall while Bryant & Stratton improved to 2-17 overall.
The Express will be in action again this Saturday afternoon (2/16) against Hocking from the SHAC. The game is slated for a 3 PM tipoff against the Hawks.