Higgins Buzzer Beater at OCC Secures Three-Point Win for the Lakers
SYRACUSE, NY. – With their 2012-13 MSAC schedule drawing to a close, the Finger Lakes CC Lakers – having already clinched the number two spot in this year's conference playoffs – came up with an exciting 81-78 road victory over the Onondaga CC Lazers on Saturday.
Tied at 78 with just seconds remaining on the game clock and with the ball in the hands of Lakers point guard Dominique Higgins – there was only one thing the freshman could do with it and that was to shoot it as time became extremely precious. With his tenacious speed – Higgins flew to half court after the ball was inbounds and before he knew it he was launching up a prayer. His prayer would resolve in a quick answer.
The shot was good.
Scoring a career-high 19 points – Higgins – who was 7-9 from the field and 3-3 from beyond the arc – was riding a ton of confidence in his shooting game prior to his made miracle shot. The ball was clearly administered into the right hands. On a day where the Rochester, NY native played 37 minutes – he wasn't only busy delivering points for the Lakers – however he was also busy dishing out a game and career-high 11 assists.
Finger Lakes – who never once held a lead in the contest prior to Higgins buzzer beater – held the lead when it matters the most – and that is when the game clock no longer had any time left on it.
Saturday's MSAC pairing featured great shooting and phenomenal ball movement out of both teams. The Lakers – who shot 46 percent as a unit – on top of Higgins 7-9 effort – received 9-14 and 7-13 shooting efforts out of Will Arberry and Kaleem Edwards respectively. Both freshmen joined Higgins in the double-digit scoring column. Arberry – in 28 minutes – scored a team-high 20 points while Edwards dropped in 15 points in 29 minutes. In addition to Edwards's 15-point day – the 6-foot-4-inch swingman grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Finger Lakes – collectively – totaled 23 assists. In all – 7 Lakers tallied at least one assist in the road game.
Onondaga – on the shooting front – shot 49 percent from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc – where it made a total of 13 three-pointers on the day. Finger Lakes also shot the ball particularly well from three-point land. In 21 attempts, the Lakers made good on 9 three's – which equaled out to a 43 percent afternoon from long distance.
The Lazers – like the Lakers – also doled out twenty plus assists. Led by Adam Misener's 6 dimes – Onondaga tallied 25 assists on the court in the 40-minute meeting.
In the win – the Lakers – who finished their MSAC schedule with a record of 9-3 in 2012-13 – trailed 43-38 at halftime before outscoring the host Lazers in the final half by a count of 43-35.
Onondaga – despite falling – registered four scorers in double figures. It was led offensively by Misener's game-high 22 points. Misener – who shot 7-15 from the floor – was followed by a pair of Garrett Sisson and Malik Mountain 12-point, 4-6 shooting efforts. Rounding out the double-digit scoring column for the Lazers with 10 points was Michael Granato.
Finger Lakes – who tallied 42 rebounds as a team – in addition to Edwards's day on the glass – received 9 boards out of Arberry. As for Onondaga – its leading rebounder went to Ryan Gavin. In 22 minutes worth of playtime – Gavin – who scored 8 points – pulled down 9 rebounds in the losing effort.
Higgins – in addition to his solid offensive day – snagged a game-high 4 steals.