By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Trailing by six points with just 16 second left in the game, things looked bleak for the Owens Men's team win streak to continue Wednesday night against Lakeland. But back to back threes by Larry Green and Marquevious Wilson sent the Express into overtime with game tied at 71-71. One overtime period would not be enough, but the Express were able to prevail in the second extra period to come away with an 85-80 win on the road.
The Express certainly used the dramatics to get to overtime. With the Express trailing almost the entire game, Green would hit a three with ten seconds left in the game to cut the Lakers lead to 71-68. Owens would call a full timeout immediately to stop play. Whatever Coach Dennis Springs drew up in the huddle worked like a charm as Marquevious Wilson was able to steal the ball and bury the game tying three with just three seconds remaining on the clock. Lakeland's Ty Howard would miss a three as time expired to send the game into the first overtime session.
Owens would take their first lead in the first overtime since the Express led 6-4 in the first half, when Larry Green hit another shot from beyond the arc to make the score 78-77 with 40 seconds remaining. Marquevious Wilson would foul the Lakers' Solomon Hall, who would split his pair of free throws to send the game to a second overtime.
In the second overtime, Gabe Simpson would provide the scoring spark. Simpson would hit a three and a layup in the second overtime and Justin Sylver would a dunk for good measure as the Express outscored the Lakers 7-2 for the five point victory.
Marquevious Wilson led the team in points with 23 on 9-21 shooting and 4-9 from three. He also added five rebounds. Simpson was hot on his heels, finishing with 22 points on 10-26 shooting from the floor. The freshman from Warren, OH also had nine rebounds (a career high), seven steals, and a team high seven assists. Justin Sylver provided the scoring punch off the bench, finishing with 13 points and a game high 12 rebounds. It was Sylver's second double-double this season.
Jamiri Bennett had six assists and nine rebounds on the night to help the Express as well.
Owens was able to gut out the win, despite a tough shooting night from the field as a team. The Express shot just 26.2% for the first half and 37.8% for the second half. They were 34.3% (34-99) for the game.
The win is the fourth in a row for the program, which is their longest winning streak of the season so far. They are averaging 90 points a ballgame over the current streak while only allowing 72 points per game. Since December 1st, the Express are 8-3 and have won six of their last eight games.
Owens is now 11-7 overall for the year and they are now 5-2 in OCCAC play, which makes them third in the league standings. Lakeland falls to 2-13 overall and 1-5 in the league.
The Express will be in action again this Saturday afternoon when they take on Clark State on the road. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 PM.