Bobcat backcourt dooms Lakers
The GCSU men’s basketball team ran its winning streak to 12 games this past Saturday at home when the Bobcats defeated Clayton State 74-67.
When the first half started, it was the Lakers that took control of the game. As the half progressed, Clayton State began to spread the lead and first took a 10-point advantage when a layup with 11:28 remaining set the score at 25-15.
Although the Bobcats were playing aggressively, the Lakers managed to maintain their lead for the entire half and the halftime score had GCSU trailing Clayton State 41-30.
When the second half began, the Bobcats settled down and began to chip away at the Lakers’ lead.
With 11:45 remaining, GCSU took the lead for the first time when junior point guard Andre Mikell drained a 3-pointer to set the score at 52-51 in the Bobcats’ favor.
“We started off really slow but we told each other that we were not going to lose,” Mikell said. “The second half was a big turning point because we just came together and played.”
From there, even though the Bobcats had the lead over Clayton State, the score remained very close as time wound down.
Seeing that the clock was running out, the Lakers began to increase their number of fouls on GCSU players in attempts to keep the Bobcats from spreading the point gap.
When 36 seconds remaining, senior point guard Ty Rowland was fouled and made both of his free throws. Less than 10 seconds later, senior guard Jake Rios was fouled and also made both of his shots from the charity line. These four free throws gave GCSU their greatest lead of the game at eight points with the score of 72-64.
The Bobcats remained in control from there and the game ended in a comeback victory for GCSU with the final score of 74-67.
The leading scorer for the Bobcats was Mikell, who put a total of 19 points on the GCSU scoreboard. He was 4-of-9 on field goals, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers and 8-of-9 on free throws.
“More that anything, we had heart and we had the will to fight,” Mikell said. “We didn’t really shoot the ball well; we didn’t defend that well, it was just knowing how to win that got us the victory.”
Rowland seconded that effort by tacking on 18 points to the scoreboard. He was 5-of-8 on field goals, including 3-of-6 on threes and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
The Bobcats are at home this weekend as they face USC Aiken tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
NOTE: the Bobcats traveled to Augusta State Feb. 11 to face the No. 7 Jaguars in the biggest game in the Peach Belt Conference this season. Due to production deadlines, the results are not included in this issue. Look for a breaking news article on GCSUnade.com and check GCSUBobcats.com for a complete game breakdown.
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