March 23, 2007

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Sophomore Rashad Austin had a game-high 24 points and fellow sophomore Omar Leary added 21, capped off with a game-winning three-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining to lead Northeastern Junior College to a 75-74 victory over Highland Community College (HCC) Wednesday afternoon.

After having a 31-26 lead at halftime, NJC was down most of the second half before Leary heroics put his team on top when it counted the most.

"It was just our time," Leary said of the winning shot. "I set my feet and let it go and it went in." After the shot, Leary took a dive near the fans on the far side bench, hoping to at least get a foul.

"I didn't get fouled, but in that situation I was trying to at least get something," Leary said. "I've been known to act a little bit." Northeastern began the game a bit slow, not recording their first made basket until the 16:13 mark in the opening half. Sophomore LaTravis

Turner cut the lead to one off a steal and a lay-up and on the following possession Austin gave his team the lead with another lay-up.

After the second tie of the game at 12 apiece, Leary connected on one of his four three-pointers to advance the lead to three. The speedy first half didn't see its first stoppage of play until 9:01 was left to play in the half.

Exceeding the break, the Plainsmen opened up a five-point lead before Highland cut the deficit to one on two different occasions. With the score 27-26, NJC scored the last four points, finalized with a monster dunk by sophomore Shane Edwards to take the five point advantage heading into the locker room at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson.

"Obviously playing in this atmosphere at this level is different for these players," Trenkle said. "They haven't had the opportunity to do it day in and day out and having the idea in the back of your mind that if you lose we go home, of course that will create nerves."

Northeastern came out in the second half a little shaky, allowing two three-pointers in the first two minutes that found the team trailing for the first time since the 11:07 mark in the first half. A couple "no calls" by the refs and some turnovers allowed HCC to advance their lead to 42-35.

NJC would call a time out and cut the lead to 42-40 on their next two possessions down the court.

Highland would open up another six-point lead at 55-49 with 7:17 to play in the game, but that is when Mr. Rashad Austin took over the game.

Austin would score 12 consecutive points in the following five minutes to get his team back into the game.

"I saw that we were struggling on offense, so I knew I needed to dig a little deeper to help my team win," Austin said. "We lost that first game, so we had to bounce back. We couldn't lost two and go home." Austin simply dominated his defender down low. The only reason he even missed shots was because he was fouled. He backed that up by going 6-8 from the charity stripe.

Each team traded baskets since the clock showed 4:12 remaining in the game. Tied for the eighth time in the contest, freshman Mike Dominguez fouled out with 52.1 seconds left. Dominguez, who only had three-points, has struggled to find his shot at the National Tournament, but has played great defense in the meanwhile.

Northeastern was down 69-67 after a shot made by Turner with 30.1 seconds. On the following inbounds play, Turner created a near steal and Austin created a near steal to force HCC to call a timeout to run a solid out of bounds play.

Highland would inbound the ball and make their free throws. Highland was 14-17 from the line, but was 8-9 in the final five minutes. Edwards would connect on a lay-up for NJC on the following trip down the court. Playing from behind however, the team was forced to foul again, and once again, Highland made both free throws.

Wasting just eight second off the clock, Leary made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 73-72 with 7.9 seconds. Finally after another foul by NJC, HCC would miss a free throw.

"I saw the missed free throw and I knew there was a window of opportunity to put the game away, Leary said. "Nine times out of ten, when I set my feet it's going to go in. When it left my fingertips, it felt good."

Highland seemed to be confused on what to do with 1.9 seconds left. They would eventually turn the ball over by stepping over the line and the game was in the hands of the Plainsmen.

Edwards put in some work, going for 13 points, while Turner added 10 of his own in the winning cause.

"One thing that we focused on was not going home two-and-done," Trenkle said. "Our sophomores got together and made sure that didn't happen. I'm excited that they get to play at least another day."

That day will be today when Northeastern plays a tough Indian Hills team that, like NJC, have only lost two games this season. The match-up will tip-off at 1 p.m.

Anthony Arroyo can be reached at 522-1990 Ext. 232, or by e-mail: aarroyo@journal-advocate.com