By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Toledo, OH -- The Owens Men's Basketball team led by as many as 15 points, and they would hold on late to get a hard fought win over Muskegon 91-87.

Owens would draw first blood in the game with a three from Jaelin Ferrel just 42 seconds into the game. The two teams would go back and forth over the first five plus minutes of the game. Owens would lead by a point a 11-10 with 14:41 to play in the first half. The Express would go on a quick 7-1 run to push their lead to eight points just a few minutes later. A three by Kylan Shipp would pull Muskegon within four points at 23-19 with 8:58 to play in the half. Owens would go back on the offensive though, adding to their lead to go up by 12 points with 3:30 to play in the half after another three by Ferrell. The Jayhawks would go on a late first half run to close the half down just six points at 44-38 as each team headed to the locker room. 

To start the second, Owens would get hot from beyond the arc early. Three straight three-pointers, two courtesy of Anthony Mills and another from Jaelin Ferrel, would give the Express a 55-43 lead withg 17:26 to play in the game. Muskegon would trim the lead back to nine points, but the Express would use a 10-4 run to take their largest lead of the game at 65-50 with 13:55 to play. The lead would be 67-55 in favor of the Express with 12:08 to play in the contest. Muskegon would storm back, going on a 14-3 run to pull within a point of the Express at 70-69 over the next four minutes. The Jayhawks would tie the game up at 74-74 just a few moments later, and they took their first lead of the half at 76-74 with 5:33 to play. The two teams would go back and forth over the next few minutes with the score tied at 83 all with 1:53 to play after King Goss buried a jumper from the wing. 

Alontay Gould would ice the game on the next possession for the Express. The freshman pulled up from the top of the three point line and banked in his shot with 1:01 to play to give the Express a 86-83 advantage. Owens would ice the game away thanks to their efforts at the free throw line, and they would take the victory by four points. 

Four players would finish in double figures scoring wise. Jaelin Ferrel would finish with 24 points on 8-15 shooting, including a hot 6-12 from beyond the arc. Alontay Gould, who provided a spark of the bench, would finish with 18 points on 5-10 shooting. Reggie Robinson was an efficient 6-9 from the floor to finish with 14 points and he also had a team high eight rebounds. Anthony Mills had 11 points from the floor and he also finished with six rebounds and a team high five assists. 

For the game, the Express shot 50.8% from the floor while Muskegon would shoot 48.5% for the game. The Jayhawks were led in scoring by Trayez Nyx with 27 points and Veja Grazulis with 20 points. 

Owens improves to 6-8 overall on the season. They will play again on Wednesday night against University of Akron-Wayne at the SHAC at 7:30 PM. They will finish the 2019 calendar year on Saturday afternoon at home as well, when they welcome in Macomb.