Dragons come from behind to knock off rival Magicians on senior night

2/10/2018 7:52:00 PM

Josh Lemons

JACKSON, Tenn. (February 10, 2018) - Prior to tip off, the four seniors on the Lane College men's basketball program were honored Saturday evening in front of family, friends, students and fans at Oman Arena. One of those seniors was Jade Patrick.

Patrick, not always appearing in the starting lineup, got the start on senior night. And after the Dragons won the tip, Patrick caught a pass on the right wing and with one flick of the wrist, put Lane College up 3-0. Now that's how a senior sets the tone as the Dragons pulled out a come from behind 74-72 win.

"He was just letting you know that he was really locked in and focused and was ready to play this evening, "Lane head coach Bryanth Basemore said. "I told those guys, leave your mark. Leave here tonight and let those guys [in the stands] scratching their head saying, 'Man, that senior bunch from 2017-18 really did a great job.'"

Erasing a seven point halftime deficit, the Dragons fought throughout the second half, eventually tying the game at 45-all with just under 14 minutes remaining. The teams traded points for most of the second half but suddenly Lane College found themselves down five points with less than two minutes left to play. A free throw from Kendarius Ash cut the lead to four before it was another senior, this time four year starter Tevyn Roberts, who stepped up and drained two free throws to cut the lead to a single possession. In Roberts last home game in a Dragons jersey, he finished with a team-leading 15 points, none bigger than the two free throws down the stretch.

"He makes me so emotional because he's been with me since his freshman year," Basemore said. "He wasn't a red-shirt, he came in as a true freshman and he really wasn't ready to play college ball as a freshman but we were forced to play him and just watch him mature and grow from freshman to sophomore to junior to senior.

"And what better way for a senior to go out than to give you two big free throws [and] big steals and then finish with 15 points."

Finishing with a double-double is nothing new to junior forward Kendarius Ash. But in Saturday night's win, Ash flirted with another triple-double, finishing with 14 points, 17 rebounds and, rare from a big man, eight assists.

"With Ash not having his best offensive output, he's always clutch for us on the rebounding end and on the defensive end off the floor with big blocks and big steals," Basemore said. "But he did something different tonight that some people don't pay attention to, he assisted the ball really well tonight."

Two other Dragons finished the night in double figures, the dual outside threat from Myles Lee And Ai'Shontis Sanders. Sanders finished with 13 points, Lee with 12. Of the combined 25 points, 21 of those came from beyond the arc.

"I challenged those guys, get in the gym and take game-like shots when no one's around," Basemore said. "Just hat's off to the whole team. I thought those guys played together all night."

The win improves Lane College to 10-7 while Lemoyne-Owen falls to 5-12. But as Basemore said to his players prior to the tip, when these two rivals meet, you can throw out the records.

"My hat goes off to Lemoyne-Owen and Coach Anderson and his bunch," Basemore said. "We talked all week about how this was going to be a dog fight and that it wouldn't matter what the records were. We both could be 20-0 or we both could be 0-20, it was going to come down to a last second shot and the last few plays.

"Hats off to my guys for coming out and executing and working so hard."