Buzzer-beater Lifts LBCC Men to Win in Coos Bay (Jan. 29)

COOS BAY, Oregon - Gabe Townsend and Linn-Benton captured a well-earned 68-65 victory over Southwestern Oregon with a dagger from beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded.

With each passing away NWAC game an increased call to steal a win has rung throughout the LB men’s basketball locker room. The Roadrunners finally picked up, and in a big way — defeating one of their conference’s top schools on Wednesday, Jan. 28, to snap their 0-4 start in away NWAC South contests.

There was a strong sense of control, compared to many of the games the Beaks have had lately, and that seemed to work in their favor. Forcing a whopping 19 Laker turnovers, the Roadrunners picked up the most important one with just a second left on the clock. With minimal time and the score deadlocked at 65, freshman guard Braxton Long was tasked with inbounding the ball. In the corner, he found Townsend, who had decided it was time to head home.

“You know they had a chance at the end, I think them turning it over was a lucky draw of the cards for us,” Townsend said. “Having our best passer inbound the ball, I was highly confident he’d get someone right where he found me at the right time.” 

Although the sophomore forward became the hero to end the game, swarming defense and a solid team effort offensively were the biggest components to a crucial win.

Freshman guard Kaiden Ford led the scoring with a smooth 18 points; Townsend had 10 and forward Anthony Best added 10 points and five rebounds in his return to the starting lineup, in only 17 minutes. 

“We knew we needed to execute on offense and make them uncomfortable on defense, and I think we did that,” Best said.

A close contest from start to finish, SWOCC grabbed a five-point lead with 2:44 on the clock, but didn’t score again after that. The Beaks turned it on when it mattered, a great sight to see for a team that was in need of a jolt of life at this point in their season.

One of the other things that played a part in the low-scoring nature of the game was the uncharacteristically low number of free throws, with LB having a lot of games this season where both teams have gotten to the charity stripe in abundance. The Roadrunners shot just 14 free throws while only allowing their opponents to muster nine.

“We played with a lot of tempo and got out in transition a lot,” Long said. 

The Beaks now sit at 3-5, around the middle of the pack in their conference and will be looking to avenge an 84-77 road loss from three weeks ago in their next game, Saturday, Jan. 31, against Portland. The Panthers are also 3-5 in conference.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linn-Benton Basketball Club Creates a Laid Back Environment for Student Hoopers

  Walk through the doors of LBCC’s Activities Center on a random day and you can just go shoot some hoops with your friends.  Stop by on a Tuesday or Thursday around noon and you’ll find freshman Ben Clements giving a friendly clinic on all he knows about basketball while the Linn-Benton basketball club gets some runs in. “We all play together, I kind of act as a trainer almost,” he said.  Clements, alongside club advisor Josiah Hunt, create a casual atmosphere that, in the words of Clements, is meant to be “an opportunity to help everyone grow their skillset and get better.” “Sometimes it’s hard with a busy schedule to exercise between classes,” said freshman member Jorge Aquino. "It's very important and just playing ball is such a good way to do it.”   Obviously, doing exercises in the form of activities you enjoy is much more gratifying, and makes it easier to build healthy habits. Many outdoor parks, especially around this time of year, don't have much baske...
Read more

Linn-Benton Men's Basketball opens NWAC play with a win over Chemeketa (Jan. 7)

The Beaks brought it in their NWAC conference opener against a familiar foe in Chemeketa, winning 69-62 on Jan. 7 in a game defined by gritty plays, active hands and a good deal of adversity.      Real troubles came on the other end of the court, however, for the team with star freshman forward Anthony Best getting into foul trouble early–the man to step up and provide the offense the Roadrunners needed to secure victory would be sophomore forward Gabe Townsend.       “I think we all went unconscious for a little bit [in the middle of the second half]. All of us were doing everything to contribute anyway we could. I think we started a little slow and that was just when we upped the intensity,” Townsend said. And up the intensity they did, Townsend especially, at multiple points screaming in celebration towards his team’s bench and his opponents on the Storm bench after scoring during that part of the game–one that marked a huge momentum shift.  ...
Read more

My First Blog Post- Joe

          Hello! My name is Daniel Joseph O'Leary, most just call me Joe, and this is my first year at LBCC. I have immense interest in journalism, but my major is history and I intend to become a high school teacher. I love the art of reporting and creating things. Sports is certainly my beat as I was the sports editor for my high school's newspaper and worked as a sports feature writer for my hometown's local paper. I hope to help bring some great sports coverage to The Commuter, but I enjoy all forms of print and photojournalism. I enjoy the outdoors a lot, hiking is one of my favorite hobbies, and I play a lot of basketball with friends. Music is also something I'm very passionate about--I don't play any instrument but I always basically have music playing, of any and all genres. Jazz, jazz-funk, 70s (southern) rock, 2000s hip-hop especially 2000s underground hip-hop, reggae, and soul would probably rank as my favorite genres, but I like just about everythin...
Read more