BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 28, 2019) - Down 20 points with 7:45 remaining, a lot of teams would have folded and packed up. If this line feels like deja vu to you, that's because it is. So many times in this season, the Lane College men's basketball team has found themselves down late in games, only to claw their way back into it to pull out a victory.

Well, the Dragons did fight back, eventually cutting the lead to one possession with 64 seconds remaining. But the comeback was for not as the No. 2 East seeded Albany State drained an off-balance 3-pointer on the next possession to extend the lead and eventually take the 73-65 win to end Lane College's season in the quarterfinals of the 2019 SIAC Championship Tournament.

Lane College Head Coach Bryanth Basemore said although his team faced some adversity in the first half, they were able to overcome it and get themselves back into contention for the win.

"To start the game I didn't feel that we came out with the right intensity that we needed to sustain (the lead)," Basemore said. "In the second half, we made the adjustments that we needed to make. We overcame some tough adversity that we had to face throughout the night and battled back."

Basemore said although he was pleased with how the team responded down 20 points, he believes if they would not have dug themselves such a big hole that they could have won the game running away.

"If we would have started and played like that from the beginning, instead of waiting until we were down 20, we would have walked away with a double-digit victory," Basemore said. "you've got to come prepared for a battle for 40 minutes. We didn't do that tonight."

Senior forward Kendarius Ash led in almost every statistical category in his last game as a Dragon. Ash finished with a team-leading 19 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 36 minutes, all the most of any player on the team. He also added two assists.

"To see him have to go away as senior and as a three-time Defensive Player of the Year; he led the nation in rebounding last year and I think he is currently fourth in the nation this year right now," Basemore said. "And to not walk away with one conference title, a SIAC tournament title, it's hard to handle right now."

 Daniel Hill also finished in double figures, dropping in 16 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the line and shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc. Lucious Brown also added 12 points.

And although Ash's time on the court is not over by any means, his time playing in a Lane College jersey has come to a close. But, he said he will always look fondly on his time as a Dragon.

"My career at Lane has been the best thing that has happened to me throughout everything that I have been through," Ash said. "The ups and the downs, I'll take all of it with me. 

"God has walked with me all of these four years and He just blessed me by giving me an opportunity to play and I just take everything as a blessing and keep pushing."