Ethan Patrick: Potomac State College
The WVU Potomac State College men's basketball team took on the College of Southern Maryland Hawks last night for season opener at Lough Gymnasium.
In a first half where the largest lead was by a margin of a mere 6 points, the back-and-forth play saw the Catamounts enter half time with a 1-point lead over CSM, 39-38. Cavonte Duncan lead the way with 9 points and 6 rebounds in the first half for PSC while Rasheed Cooley put up 8 points and 4 rebounds for the Hawks.
Midway through the second half, the Catamounts hit a 6-minute scoring draught allowing the Hawks to go on a 16-1 scoring run and open up a 13-point lead on PSC. Two timeouts later, the Catamounts began chipping away at the deficit and eventually regaining the lead with just under 4 minutes left in the game.
The final 4 minutes held 4 lead changes leaving the Catamounts down by 3 points with 7 second left on the clock. After a quick layup to bring the score to 83-82 in favor of the Hawks, the Catamounts were ably to quickly regain possession and draw contact, sending Isaac James to the line with the chance to win the game for Potomac State. After sinking his first free throw to tie the game, James missed the second allowing CSM one final shot; but after failing to capitalize the teams remained tied 83-83 to force overtime.
As with the rest of the game, overtime was played very evenly and with less than 1 minute left in the game the score was tied 94-94. Sophomore Cavonte Duncan came up with a huge offensive rebound for PSC with 22 seconds left and drew a foul to shoot two free throws, while at the same time a technical was issued to the Hawks giving the Catamounts two more free throw opportunities. Making 3 out of the 4 shots, Potomac State once again took the lead and held on for a final score of 99-94 and marking their first win of the season.
Juliyen Johnson ended the night with 24 points and Richard Law added 23 of his own along with 6 rebounds. Cavonte Duncan and Isaac James both recorded a double-double on the night.
The Catamounts (1-0) travel to Allegany College of Maryland this weekend and will face Hagerstown CC on Friday at 5 p.m. in the Personal Best Tip-Off Classic.